stephanie snail reucon

Looking for Snails in Four MELNHE Stands

STEPHANIE SUTTENBERG

SUNY ESF ‘17

REU SHOESTRING CREW

Background

Snails are found in leaf litter (Oi layer) Need to be damp -- desiccation

Snails need Ca (Skeldon et al 2007)

Watershed 1 Increase numbers Not useable

Little research on N and P Lower phosphorus, lower growth rate of individuals (Krist 2014)

Higher nitrogen, higher snail population (Stuart A. 2014)

v

Hypotheses

N

P

N&P

Ca

Methods Cardboards placed in C6, C8, JBO and JBM

Selected for Ca

Two 8.5x11in cardboard sheets are laid out in each outer point

>0.25 inch rain event top layers of leaf litter are dry

One plot

Collection Methods

Check underside of cardboard for snails Snails collected in pre-labeled vials Killed with 95% ethanol Later transferred to storage vials

Collected four times

Collection Methods

Check underside of cardboard for snails Snails collected in pre-labeled vials Killed with 95% ethanol Later transferred to storage vials

Collected four times

Co N P N&P Ca Co N P N&P Ca Co N P N&P Ca Co N P N&P CaC6 C8 JBO JBM

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Average Snails Collected Summer 2014

Stand and Plot

Aver

age

num

ber o

f sna

ils

Co N P N&P Ca Co N P N&P Ca Co N P N&P Ca Co N P N&P CaC6 C8 JBO JBM

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Average Snails Collected Summer 2014

Stand and Plot

Aver

age

num

ber o

f sna

ils81.75

Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca

C6 C8 JBO JBM

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Average Snails Collected Summer 2014

Stand and Plot

Aver

age

num

ber o

f sna

ils81.75

Compared to ControlN- only increase JBO

Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca

C6 C8 JBO JBM

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Average Snails Collected Summer 2014

Stand and Plot

Aver

age

num

ber o

f sna

ils81.75

Compared to ControlN- only increase JBOP- Only increase JBO

Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca

C6 C8 JBO JBM

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Average Snails Collected Summer 2014

Stand and Plot

Aver

age

num

ber o

f sna

ils81.75

Compared to ControlN- only increase JBOP- Only increase JBON&P- No increase

Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca Co N P N&P

Ca

C6 C8 JBO JBM

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Average Snails Collected Summer 2014

Stand and Plot

Aver

age

num

ber o

f sna

ils81.75

Compared to ControlN- only increase JBOP- Only increase JBON&P- No increaseCa- Increase except C8

12 17 22 27 320

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

f(x) = 0.281960489136123 x − 1.98929922153616R² = 0.254370998363817

Soil Moisture vs. Average Snails Collected

Soil Moisture

Avera

ge S

nails

Co N P NP Ca0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Least Squared Means

Treatment

p= 0.3

Co N P N&P Ca0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Least Squared Means (Without JBO)

Treatment

p = 0.09

a

b bb

a b

Discussion

Hypotheses Outcome

NP

N&PCa

Discussion

Average of 5.8 snails/m^2 7.6 snails/m^2 (Skeldon et al 2014)Leaf litter too damp?Edge effect?

Dry out faster Two phase model for N

Initial die off, but then favor snail reproduction and survival (Stuart 2014)

Recently fertilized (June). Die back stage?

Future Research

Taxa of individuals will be determined

Soil pH levels Soil composition Varying levels of leaf litter dryness

“Goldilocks zone”

Citations

Krist, Amy C., Adam D. Kay, Katelyn Larkin, Maurine Neiman. 2014. Response to Phosphorus Limitation Varies among Lake Populations of the Freshwater Snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum

Skeldon, M. et al 2007. Terrestrial gastropod response to an ecosystem-level calcium manipulation in a northern hardwood forest. 

Stuart, A., & Palenzuela, N. 2014 Effects of fertilizer applications on survival and recruitment of the apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck). Crop Protection.

Wu, J. et al 2014. Identification of optimum scopes of environmental factors for snails using spatial analysis techniques in Dongting Lake Region, China. Parasites & Vectors.

Acknowledgements

I’d like to thank Eli, Jerome, Nora and Abby for setting out cardboards

Adam and Ruth for much needed advice in layouts, stats and methods

Eli, Lisa, Adam, Sophie and Justin for collecting snails

Matt Vadeboncoeur and Cheryl Bondi for helping with methods