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

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