Earthworm communities in hardwood floodplain forests of the Morava and Dyje rivers as influenced by different inundation regimes

Earthworm communities have been studied in five hardwood forests of the Sou thern and Central Moravian floodplains in 1994 - 1997. The spectrum of eart hworm taxa (17 species and subspecies) was characterised by acidotolerant, euryeciuos and hygrophilous species. Distinct differences among earthworm a ssemblages of individual forests were given by values of density (294 - 134 ind.m(2)) and biomass (49 - 20 g.m(.2)), both decreasing with increasing i nundation's, but also by community structures. Long-term influence of perio dic spring and autumn floods on species number and their combinations was r elatively small; however, episodic summer floods changed worm communities d rastically.