This article gives an overview of the 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 waterseight 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).The following is a list of the communities that make up this category:
A1 Lemna gibba community Lemnetum gibbae Miyawaki & J. Tx. 1960A2 Lemna minor community Lemnetum minoris Soó 1947A3 Spirodela polyrhiza - Hydrocharis morsus-ranae communityA4 Hydrocharis morsus-ranae - Stratiotes aloides communityA5 Ceratophyllum demersum community Certaophylletum demersi Hild 1956A6 Ceratophyllum submersum community Certaophylletum submersi Den Hartog & Segal 1964A7 Nymphaea alba community Nymphaeetum albae Oberdorfer & Mitarb. 1967A8 Nuphar lutea communityA9 Potamogeton natans communityA10 Polygonum amphibium communityA11 Potamogeton pectinatus - Myriophyllum spicatum communityA12 Potamogeton pectinatus communityA13 Potamogeton perfoliatus - Myriophyllum alterniflorum communityA14 Myriophyllum alterniflorum community Myriophylletum alternifloriA15 Elodea canadensis communityA16 Callitriche stagnalis communityA17 Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans communityA18 Ranunculus fluitans community Ranunculetum fluitantis Allorge 1922A19 Ranunculus aquatilis community Ranunculetum aquatilis Géhu 1961A20 Ranunculus peltatus community Ranunculetum peltati Sauer 1947A21 Ranunculus baudotii community Ranunculetum baudotii Br.-Bl. 1952A22 Littorella uniflora - Lobelia dortmanna communityA23 Isoetes lacustris/setacea communityA24 Juncus bulbosus community.