Patterns of land snail distribution in a montane habitat on the island of Hawaii

Author:

Cowie, Robert H., Nishida, Gordon M., Basset, Yves, Gon, Samuel M. III.

Title:

Patterns of land snail distribution in a montane habitat on the island of Hawaii

Periodical:

Malacologia

Year:

1995

Volume:

36

Pages:

155-169

Subject:

Land snails Ecology Conservation Distribution patterns Canonical correspondence analysis

Summary:

The native land snail fauna of the Hawaiian Islands is one of the most speciose in the world per unit area with 779 recognized species. A quantitative survey of a 35 km(super 2) area between 1,500 m and 2,100 m elevation on the island of Hawaii recorded at least 16 species of land snails. Fifteen of these are probably endemic to the island; one is indigenous but not endemic. This study, that took place on the Island of Hawaii, was initiated as a simple inventory survey and part of a wider environmental impact assessment that also included surveys of plants and vertebrates. The study area included the saddle area that is located between two volcanoes -- Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. This was the first study to survey the entire malacofauna of a particular area in the Hawaiian islands as opposed to focusing on a particular taxa. It was also the first time that the distribution of snails in the Hawaiian Islands was assessed quantitatively in relation to habitat characteristics. Local patterning in land snail distributions was analyzed by canonical correspondence analysis in relation to altitude, substratum type, (i.e., lava type), and to a range of vegetational variables that were derived from other parts of the wider environmental assessment. The study area was also part of a military training area where military activities, the presence of introduced feral ungulates, and the increasing trend of invasion by non-native plants, all had the potential to damage this unique fauna.

Label:

Animals

Collection:

Periodicals