Aquatic communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system

The aquatic communities of the NVC were described in Volume 4 of British Plant Communities, first published in 1995, along with the swamps and tall-herb fens. In total, 24 aquatic communities have been identified. The aquatic communities fall into the following six groups: • four communities of the water surface and sub-surface, in which duckweeds and/or Frogbit are the constant species; these communities (A1, A2, A3 and A4) are found in moderately-rich to eutrophic standing waters • eight free-floating or rooted and submerged, pondweed communities (A5, A6, A11, A12, A13, A14, A15 and A21) • six communities in which rooted water-lilies and pondweeds with floating leaves are the constant species (A7, A8, A9, A10, A19 and A20) • three communities in which water-crowfoots and/or starworts are the constant species (A16, A17 and A18) • two hairgrass and quillwort communities (A22 and A23) • a single community characterised by free-floating vegetation found in impoverished base-poor standing waters (A24). ==List of aquatic communities==

The following is a list of the communities that make up this category: • A1 Lemna gibba community Lemnetum gibbae Miyawaki & J. Tx. 1960 • A2 Lemna minor community Lemnetum minoris Soó 1947 • A3 Spirodela polyrhiza - Hydrocharis morsus-ranae community • A4 Hydrocharis morsus-ranae - Stratiotes aloides community • A5 Ceratophyllum demersum community Certaophylletum demersi Hild 1956 • A6 Ceratophyllum submersum community Certaophylletum submersi Den Hartog & Segal 1964 • A7 Nymphaea alba community Nymphaeetum albae Oberdorfer & Mitarb. 1967 • A8 Nuphar lutea community • A9 Potamogeton natans community • A10 Polygonum amphibium community • A11 Potamogeton pectinatus - Myriophyllum spicatum community • A12 Potamogeton pectinatus community • A13 Potamogeton perfoliatus - Myriophyllum alterniflorum community • A14 Myriophyllum alterniflorum community Myriophylletum alterniflori • A15 Elodea canadensis community • A16 Callitriche stagnalis community • A17 Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans community • A18 Ranunculus fluitans community Ranunculetum fluitantis Allorge 1922 • A19 Ranunculus aquatilis community Ranunculetum aquatilis Géhu 1961 • A20 Ranunculus peltatus community Ranunculetum peltati Sauer 1947 • A21 Ranunculus baudotii community Ranunculetum baudotii Br.-Bl. 1952 • A22 Littorella uniflora - Lobelia dortmanna community • A23 Isoetes lacustris/setacea community • A24 Juncus bulbosus community.