inland surface water habitats

One of the main habitat types in the EUNIS habitats classification. Inland surface water habitats are non-coastal above-ground open fresh or brackish waterbodies (e.g. rivers, streams, lakes and pools, springs), including their littoral zones. Also includes dune slack pools. Includes constructed inland freshwater, brackish or saline waterbodies (such as canals, ponds, etc.) which support a semi-natural community of both plants and animals; normally wet habitats which may be dry seasonally (temporary or intermittent rivers and lakes and their littoral zones). Freshwater littoral zones include those parts of banks or shores which are sufficiently frequently inundated to prevent the formation of closed terrestrial vegetation. Excludes permanent snow and ice. Note that habitats which intimately combine waterlogged habitats with pools of open water are considered as complexes.