IMPLEMENTING THE HABITATS DIRECTIVE FOR MOLLUSK SPECIES IN SPAIN

During 1996 the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid) co-ordin ated a national project to make an inventory of Habitats Directive (HD ) invertebrate species (Directive 92/43/EEC). The work was promoted by the Ministry for the Environment (MMA) and received financial support thanks to an agreement between the General Directorate for Nature Con servation (of the ME) and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). Its obj ectives were ii to review and map the species distribution area with s pecial emphasis on the species from Annexe II, 2) to review the status of the populations and the biology of the species, and 3) to identify real or potential threats in order to propose measures to protect spe cies habitats or to control commercial exploitation for Annexe II and V species, respectively Ten of the study species were molluscs, repres enting 77% of total molluscs listed in the HD Annexes (13 species), wh ich is a reflection of species biodiversity in Spain. The species we s tudied were: Elona quimperiana (Ferussac, 1821), Geomalacus maculosus Allman, 1843, Vertigo moulinsiana (Dupuy, 1849), Margaritifera auricul aria (Spengler, 1793), Margaritifera margaritifera (Linnaeus, 1758), U nio elongatulus (Pfeiffer, 1825), Unio crassus Philipsson, 1788, Patel la ferruginea Gmelin, 1791, Pinna nobilis Linnaeus, 1758, Lithophaga l ithophaga (Linnaeus, 1758). We indicate herein the need for more thoro ugh studies on some species, and summarise the most relevant informati on obtained as the first step towards implementing the HD with this gr oup of species in Spain.