Habitat preferences of the Critically Endangered greater Bermuda land snail Poecilozonites bermudensis in the wild. Issue 1 (25th January 2022)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Habitat preferences of the Critically Endangered greater Bermuda land snail Poecilozonites bermudensis in the wild. Issue 1 (25th January 2022)
- Main Title:
- Habitat preferences of the Critically Endangered greater Bermuda land snail Poecilozonites bermudensis in the wild
- Authors:
- Copeland, Alison
Hesselberg, Thomas - Abstract:
- Abstract: The endemic, Critically Endangered greater Bermuda land snail Poecilozonites bermudensis is known from only two relict subpopulations. Little is known of its habitat preferences in the wild. Observations of released zoo-reared P. bermudensis suggested an affinity for limestone, which we investigated on Port's Island. Previous qualitative observations on Port's Island suggested an aversion to the litter of the invasive tree Casuarina equisetifolia, which we examined. Additionally, we hypothesized that snail abundance would increase with elevation, distance from the sea, and with increased plant species diversity. During 2 May–14 June 2018, we found 558 live P. bermudensis at 70 sites across Port's Island. We found no correlation between the number of live snails at a site and either the number of plant species, elevation or distance from the shoreline, but snails were significantly less abundant at sites dominated by C. equisetifolia . Significantly more snails were found around limestone features, indicating future reintroductions and searches for any undiscovered subpopulations should focus on limestone features where C. equisetifolia is absent.
- Is Part Of:
- Oryx. Volume 56:Issue 1(2022)
- Journal:
- Oryx
- Issue:
- Volume 56:Issue 1(2022)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 56, Issue 1 (2022)
- Year:
- 2022
- Volume:
- 56
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2022-0056-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 34
- Page End:
- 37
- Publication Date:
- 2022-01-25
- Subjects:
- Bermuda -- habitat preference -- land snail -- Poecilozonites bermudensis -- protected species recovery -- reintroduction -- terrestrial snail survey
Wildlife conservation -- Periodicals
Nature conservation -- Periodicals
639.9 - Journal URLs:
- http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=ORX ↗
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S0030605320000836 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0030-6053
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library STI - ELD Digital store
- Ingest File:
- 20388.xml