The effect of abiotic environmental variables on the Danube macrozoobenthic communities

160 taxa of macrozoobenthos were recorded in the Danube River (R. km 1880-1704) riparian zone. Many typical Danubian and Pontocaspian representatives were found. The Slovak section of the Danube represents the border between its epipotamal and metapotamal stretches with different flow velocity and other environmental variables related to it. This paper characterises some abiotic ecological factors influencing the distribution of benthic taxa in five sampling sites along the longitudinal profile of the Danube. The benthic community composition was more strongly influenced by hydrological parameters than by oxygen and temperature regimes, as well as by the water quality conditions. In other words, the bottom substrate, flow velocity, water level fluctuation and discharge changes had the predominant effect on the taxocoenoses of macrozoobenthos. Three characteristic groups of macrozoobenthic organisms were recorded, as far as corresponding trophic guilds are concerned. Shredders and scrapers predominated in high flow velocity conditions with coarse substrate particles. Collectors of fine organic matter preferred slow-flowing conditions caused by damming or by a reduction of current due to the presence of bedrock. Filterers prevailed in the lower section of the Danube stretch monitored. Predators occurred independently of the environmental variables studied.