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Journal Molluscan Studies Advance Access originally published online on December 18, 2007
Journal of Molluscan Studies 2008 74(1):37-45; doi:10.1093/mollus/eym041
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Malacological Society of London, all rights reserved

The composition and richness of Danubian floodplain forest land snail faunas in relation to forest type and flood frequency

Tomás Cejka1, Michal Horsák2, and Danka Némethová3

1 Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia; 2Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlárská 2, CZ-611 37 Brno, Czech Republic; and 3 Research Centre for Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Masaryk University, Kamenice 126/3, CZ-625 00 Brno, Czech Republic

Correspondence: M. Horsák; e-mail: horsak{at}sci.muni.cz


  Abstract

The species richness and composition of land snail assemblages in 42 floodplain forest sites along the Danube River in Slovakia were studied to find the main ecological gradients responsible for the variation in the faunas. We found just one, but steep, ecological gradient influencing the variation of snail species composition among different floodplain forest types, reflected in the first detrended correspondence analysis axis, which explained 29.6% of total variation. Site scores on this axis were significantly correlated with site humidity (rs=–0.868; P<0.001). Significant loading on the first axis was also found for flood frequency and several vegetation descriptors. Species composition mainly reflected differences between sites without floods and the others. Species richness as well as total abundances of live individuals were not significantly controlled by any explanatory variable, although some trends could be discerned. Considering vegetation classification, substantial differences were observed between wet softwood floodplain forests and the remaining types, drier softwood forests and different types of hardwood forests, which were impossible to distinguish based on land snail assemblages. The results are discussed in relation to earlier descriptive studies, and in terms of the conservation of these threatened habitats.

(Received 4 May 2007; accepted 12 October 2007)


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