Ecological outcomes of agroforests and restoration 15 years after planting

Large‐scale forest restoration relies on approaches that are cost‐effective and economically attractive to farmers, and in this context agroforestry systems may be a valuable option. Here, we compared ecological outcomes among (1) 12–15‐year‐old coffee agroforests established with several native shade trees, (2) 12–15‐year‐old high‐diversity restoration plantations, and (3) reference old‐growth forests, within a landscape restoration project in the Pontal do Paranapanema region, in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil. We compared the aboveground biomass, canopy cover, and abundance, richness, and composition of trees, and the regenerating saplings in the three forest types. In addition, we investigated the landscape drivers of natural regeneration in the restoration plantations and coffee agroforests. Reference forests had a higher abundance of trees and regenerating saplings, but had similar levels of species richness compared to coffee agroforests. High‐diversity agroforests and restoration plantations did not differ in tree abundance. However, compared to restoration plantations, agroforests showed higher abundance and species richness of regenerating saplings, a higher proportion of animal‐dispersed species, and higher canopy cover. The abundance of regenerating saplings declined with increasing density of coffee plants, thus indicating a potential trade‐off between productivity and ecological benefits. High‐diversity coffee agroforests provide a cost‐effective and ecologically viable alternative to high‐diversity native tree plantations for large‐scale forest restoration within agricultural landscapes managed by local communities, and should be included as part of the portfolio of reforestation options used to promote the global agenda on forest and landscape restoration.     

Distribution of puimonate snails in the New River of Virginia and North Carolina, U.S.A.: interaction between alkalinity and stream drainage area

SUMMARY. The distribution and abundance of five species of pulmonate snails over 87 sites in the New River seem to be related to two variables, alkalinity and drainage area of the stream. The snails were generally found in the more alkaline streams regardless of stream drainage area and in the larger streams regardless of alkalinity. Considering only the 26 sites where at least one species of the five pulmonates occurred, rank snail abundance is significantly correlated with rank alkalinity, rank drainage area, and the alkalinity/area interaction. But the correlations between abundance and both alkalinity and drainage area drop to low levels when interaction is partialled out, while the correlation between abundance and interaction remains high upon partialling out alkalinity or area. This suggests that the apparent correlation between puimonate abundance and alkalinity is secondary and that neither alkalinity nor water chemistry variables correlated with it directly limit the distribution and abundance of pulmonates in the New River. Both alkalinity and stream drainage area may influence the abundance of pulmonate food.     

Marine invasion processes: interactions between native and introduced marsh snails

We test two hypotheses to explain the success of a biological invader in marshes on the Pacific coast of North America. The first hypothesis focuses on the competitive superiority of an invading species over native species; the second hypothesis focuses on the absence of ecological equivalents in the aboriginal biota, such that no competitive interactions are necessary to facilitate successful invasion. As a model system we experimentally manipulated the introduced pulmonate snail Ovatella myosotis and the native prosobranch snails Assiminea californica and Littorina subrotundata. Manipulations included pair-wise enclosures to determine of Ovatella depressed the growth of the native;species; pair-wise associations to determine whether or not snails demonstrated negative or positive clustering; removal experiments to see if native snails invaded regions occupied by Ovatella, and reciprocal transplants on a vertical gradient to determine the physiological breath of the target species. In addition to monitoring population abundances of all three species seasonally, dietary overlap of these gastropods was also examined. No evidence of competitive superiority by Ovatella was found. Ovatella possesses the physiological capacities to exist in a semiterrestrial environment and is therefore able to take advantage of resources unavailable to native gastropods. We conclude that the successful establishment of this Atlantic snail in the Pacific Northwest did not arise at the expense of native species.     

A first assessment of the land management effect on the ecological role of large trees as habitat refuges for desert small mammals

Large old trees are keystone organisms that generate a highly connected network of interactions because they provide refuge and feeding sites to mammals with different habitat requirements through their under canopy structure and deadwood. In dry woodlands, these keystone trees are found within agricultural landscapes, where grazing and deadwood removal are the main subsistence activities carried out by local people. These activities can modify the structure of trees and, in turn, affect small mammal communities. Our objective was to assess how different land management types modify the structure of P. flexuosa trees, and to determine the effects of modified tree structure on the abundance and composition of small mammal communities. The study was conducted in P. flexuosa forests within a protected area and in grazing fields. We found that the trees and the vegetation structure beneath their canopies reflect the management history of areas. Trees in the protected area and in an abandoned field were structurally more similar to one another than were those in grazing fields with deadwood removal and, in turn, presented greater total abundances of small mammals. Under tree canopy, the amount of deadwood and grass cover favor the presence of species that need closed and more complex habitats. Also, protection provided by the trees was differentially perceived by species, according to their ecological requirements. We can conclude that different land management scenarios allow for the conservation of the whole rodent assemblage and that, the trees determine the presence of species, particularly of those needing more complex habitats.     

Relative vulnerability of six freshwater gastropods to the leech Nephelopsis obscura (Verrill)

SUMMARY. 1. The vulnerability of six species of freshwater snails to the leech Nephelopsis obscura was determined in laboratory predation experiments.
2. Nephelopsis was unable to prey on prosobranch snails with an operculum, but did consume certain pulmonate species though predation rates were low, ranging from one to two snails per leech per night at 20°C. Apparently, Nephelopsis does not actively select prey, but merely consumes those species most easily handled.
3. Among pulmonates, leeches captured species in the following order: Physa gyrina (Say), Helisoma anceps (Menke). Lymnaea emarginata (Say) and Helisoma trivolvis (Say). Susceptibihty of size classes varied among snail species.
4. Neither environmental structure, such as cobble or macrophytes, nor gastropod escape behaviors, such as clamping to substrates or vertical migration away from bottom-feeding leeches, lowered capture rates by Nephelopsis.
5. In 2 years sampling, only one of seven lakes, however, had appreciable abundances of Nephelopsis. It is therefore suggested that the rarity, low feeding rates, and lack of strong gastropod preference limit the effect of Nephelopsis on field gastropod distributions.     

Environmental gradients and the structure of freshwater snail communities

A fundamental goal of ecology is to understand the factors that influence community structure and, consequently, generate heterogeneity in species richness across habitats. While niche‐assembly (e.g. species‐sorting) and dispersal‐assembly mechanisms are widely recognized as factors structuring communities, there remains substantial debate concerning the relative importance of each of these mechanisms. Using freshwater snails as a model system, we explore how abiotic and biotic factors interact with dispersal to structure local communities and generate regional patterns in species richness. Our data set consisted of 24 snail species from 43 ponds and lakes surveyed for seven years on the Univ. of Michigan's E. S. George Reserve and Pinckney State Recreation Area near Ann Arbor, Michigan. We found that heterogeneity in habitat conditions mediated species‐sorting mechanism to drive patterns in snail species richness across sites. In particular, physical environmental variables (i.e. habitat area, hydroperiod, and canopy cover), pH, and fish presence accounted for the majority of variation in the species richness across sites. We also found evidence of Gleasonian structure (i.e. significant species turnover with stochastic species loss) in the metacommunity. Turnover in snail species distributions was driven by the replacement of several pulmonate species with prosobranch species at the pond permanence transition. Turnover appeared to be driven by physiological constraints associated with differences in respiration mode between the snail orders and shell characteristics that deter molluscivorous fish. In contrast to these niche‐assembly mechanisms, there was no evidence that dispersal‐assembly mechanisms were structuring the communities. This suggests that niche‐assembly mechanisms are more important than dispersal‐assembly mechanisms for structuring local snail communities.     

Invasiveness Does Not Predict Impact: Response of Native Land Snail Communities to Plant Invasions in Riparian Habitats

Studies of plant invasions rarely address impacts on molluscs. By comparing pairs of invaded and corresponding uninvaded plots in 96 sites in floodplain forests, we examined effects of four invasive alien plants (Impatiens glandulifera, Fallopia japonica, F. sachalinensis, and F.×bohemica) in the Czech Republic on communities of land snails. The richness and abundance of living land snail species were recorded separately for all species, rare species listed on the national Red List, and small species with shell size below 5 mm. The significant impacts ranged from 16–48% reduction in snail species numbers, and 29–90% reduction in abundance. Small species were especially prone to reduction in species richness by all four invasive plant taxa. Rare snails were also negatively impacted by all plant invaders, both in terms of species richness or abundance. Overall, the impacts on snails were invader-specific, differing among plant taxa. The strong effect of I. glandulifera could be related to the post-invasion decrease in abundance of tall nitrophilous native plant species that are a nutrient-rich food source for snails in riparian habitats. Fallopia sachalinensis had the strongest negative impact of the three knotweeds, which reflects differences in their canopy structure, microhabitat humidity and litter decomposition. The ranking of Fallopia taxa according to the strength of impacts on snail communities differs from ranking by their invasiveness, known from previous studies. This indicates that invasiveness does not simply translate to impacts of invasion and needs to be borne in mind by conservation and management authorities.     

“螺-草”的互利关系

水生态系统中存在螺-草互利现象。然而,植食性螺类与水生植物之间是否存在这种互利关系目前尚无定论。椭圆萝卜螺（肺螺亚纲）与铜锈环棱螺（前腮亚纲）是常见的淡水螺类,其中,椭圆萝卜螺能牧食多种水生植物的活体。通过室外实验,研究了这两种螺类在不同密度条件下对沉水植物（苦草）生长的影响。实验结果表明,低密度的椭圆萝卜螺促进了苦草的生长,螺、草之间存在明显的互利关系,高密度时螺类对苦草植株本身的大量牧食则显著限制了植物的生长。对铜锈环棱螺而言,不同密度的螺类均明显促进了受附生生物胁迫的苦草的生长,螺-草互利关系成立。分析认为,螺-草互利关系的存在是有其限制条件的,对植食性螺类而言,只有在较低的螺类密度条件下才存在这种互利关系。     

HELICOIDAL ARCHITECTURE IN THE PERIOSTRACUM OF A TERRESTRIAL PROSOBRANCH PTEROCYCLUS LATILABRUM SMITH

In the land prosobranch gastropod Pterocyclus latilabrum Smiththe periostracum is composed of a scleroprotein with polar characterresembling compositionally more the periostraca of many marineprosobranchs and some terrestrial or freshwater pulmonates thanthose of certain other land-living species of pulmonate or mostof the freshwater prosobranchs. The periostracum is a lamellarstructure with a distinctive ultrastructural organization showingevidence for a preferred orientation of microfibrils in helicoidallystacked layers. (Received 20 August 1984;     

Pulmonate phylogeny based on 28S rRNA gene sequences: a framework for discussing habitat transitions and character transformation

Pulmonate snails occupy a wide range of marine, estuarine, freshwater and terrestrial environments. Non-terrestrial forms are supposed to be basal in pulmonate evolution but the group's phylogeny is not well resolved either morphologically or on the basis of available DNA sequence data. The lack of a robust phylogeny makes it difficult to understand character polarization and habitat transformation in pulmonates. We have investigated pulmonate relationships using 27 new sequences of 28S rRNA from pulmonates and outgroups, augmented with data from GenBank. The complete alignments comprised about 3.8kb. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of alignments generated under different assumptions are reported. Complete alignments appear to have a degree of substitution saturation so where there is conflict between hypothesised relationships more weight is given to analyses where regions of random similarity are excluded and which are not affected by this complication. Monophyly of the five main pulmonate groups was robustly supported in almost all analyses. The marine group Amphiboloidea and the freshwater Glacidorbidae are the most basal. The remaining pulmonates (Siphonariidae, Hygrophila and Eupulmonata) form a moderately-supported monophyletic group in all analyses bar one probably affected by saturation of substitutions. Siphonariidae, a predominantly marine and intertidal family, and Eupulmonata (mainly terrestrial with marine, estuarine and freshwater species) form a strongly supported clade that is the sister group to Hygrophila (freshwater). Multiple colonizations of freshwater and terrestrial habitats by pulmonate snails are suggested. No analyses strongly support the possibility of habitat reversions. The colonizations of freshwater by Hygrophila and of land by Stylommatophora were apparently phylogenetically independent although it cannot yet be excluded that there were transient terrestrial phases in the history of the former group or freshwater phases in the latter.     

The invasive Yellow Crazy Ant and the decline of forest ant diversity in Indonesian cacao agroforests

Throughout the tropics, agroforests are often the only remaining habitat with a considerable tree cover. Agroforestry systems can support high numbers of species and are therefore frequently heralded as the future for tropical biodiversity conservation. However, anthropogenic habitat modification can facilitate species invasions that may suppress native fauna. We compared the ant fauna of lower canopy trees in natural rainforest sites with that of cacao trees in agroforests in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia in order to assess the effects of agroforestry on occurrence of the Yellow Crazy Ant Anoplolepis gracilipes, a common invasive species in the area, and its effects on overall ant richness. The agroforests differed in the type of shade-tree composition, tree density, canopy cover, and distance to the village. On average, 43% of the species in agroforests also occurred in the lower canopy of nearby primary forest and the number of forest ant species that occurred on cacao trees was not related to agroforestry characteristics. However, A. gracilipes was the most common non-forest ant species, and forest ant richness decreased significantly with the presence of this species. Our results indicate that agroforestry may have promoted the occurrence of A. gracilipes, possibly because tree management in agroforests negatively affects ant species that depend on trees for nesting and foraging, whereas A. gracilipes is a generalist when it comes to nesting sites and food preference. Thus, agroforestry management that includes the thinning of tree stands can facilitate ant invasions, thereby threatening the potential of cultivated land for the conservation of tropical ant diversity.     

Carnivore mollusks as natural enemies of invasive land flatworms

There are several records of the carnivorous behaviour of land flatworms, considered to be top‐predators in their micro‐habitats, by preying upon various species of invertebrates. However, there is little knowledge of predators on land‐flatworms. The possible impact of invasive land flatworms on prey populations has caused widespread concern, when considering their predatory behaviour, combined with recent human influence on the distribution of certain species. This work is the first record of predation on land flatworms by a carnivorous snail. Various‐sized land flatworms of 10 native species of the subfamily Geoplaninae, as well as the exotic species Bipalium kewense (subfamily Bipaliinae), were offered to Rectartemon depressus (Gastropoda, Streptaxidae), which accepted all. The predator also fed on the snail Bradybaena similaris. The snails were maintained in laboratory for an average period of 12 months based on a mixed diet of flatworms and B. similaris, suggesting that the snail is a polyphagous predator. Because certain land‐flatworm species have been described as invasive species which may have a potential impact on prey populations in native and man‐made ecosystems, it is proposed that carnivorous snails of other native species, as potential predators of flatworms, should be tested for possible use in biological control programmes of these invasive planarians.     

Exceptionally poor land snail fauna of central Yakutia (NE Russia): climatic and habitat determinants of species richness

There is an ongoing debate on the causes of the latitudinal diversity gradient, but diversity decline towards high latitudes is poorly documented for many invertebrate taxa. Therefore, we sampled land snail assemblages at 79 sites and in various habitat types in central Yakutia, a region with extremely continental, cool and dry climate. We tested whether habitats lacking suitable shelters for winter survival harbour less species than those with vegetation cover that softens climatic extremes. Both local species diversity and regional species diversity were extremely low: 13 species were recorded in total with an average of 1.4 species per site. While the majority of grassland sites were without snails (26 of 34 sites), forest sites supported at least one snail species in most cases (38 of 45 sites). Within grasslands, snail occurrences were associated with a higher herb-layer biomass. Numbers of snail species correlated with the amount of available calcium only in forests, in which species accumulation towards more favourable habitats was possible due to softening of climate harshness. As minute snails are known to be effective passive dispersers and the study area was not glaciated during the last glacial stage, there was certainly enough time for colonization of all favourable habitats. Our results suggest climatically driven limitations of both local and regional land snail diversity in central Yakutia. We conclude that the hypothesis of climate harshness remains the most probable explanation of a sharp drop in land snail diversity in high-latitude areas with cold climate.     

Field prevalence and laboratory susceptibility of southern Australian land snails to Brachylaima cribbi sporocyst infection

Brachylaima cribbi is a terrestrial trematode of birds and mammals with helicid and hygromiid land snails reported as first and second intermediate hosts. However, reports describing the first intermediate host range of B. cribbi have been limited to those snail species present in a small number of geographical locations in South Australia. The natural first intermediate host range, distribution and prevalence of B. cribbi in land snails in southern Australia were determined. A total of 6,432 introduced and native land snails were collected from eight geographical districts across 3,000 km of southern Australia and examined microscopically for B. cribbi sporocysts. Four introduced European snails, Theba pisana, Cernuella virgata, Cochlicella acuta and Cochlicella barbara were natural first intermediate hosts. Sporocyst-infected snails were detected in all districts from Victoria to the west coast of South Australia, a distance of over 1,300 km. Natural sporocyst infection was not observed in introduced European snails Microxeromagna armillata and Helix aspersa or in native Australian land snails Succinea australis and Strangesta gawleri. Egg feeding experiments in the laboratory with B. cribbi confirmed the susceptibility of those species of snails found to be natural first intermediate hosts. Of those species not found to be infected in nature, only M. armillata could be infected in the laboratory. Although this study has shown that five different species of European land snails are suitable first intermediate hosts for B. cribbi there are as yet no reports of B. cribbi from these snails in Europe or from other countries where they have been introduced. Further investigations are needed in Europe to clarify the origins of this parasite.     

Small mammals cause non-trophic effects on habitat and associated snails in a native system

Legacy effects occur when particular species or their interactions with others have long-lasting impacts, and they are increasingly recognized as important determinants of ecological processes. However, when such legacy effects have been explicitly explored, they most often involve the long-term direct effects of species on systems, as opposed to the indirect effects. Here, we explore how a legacy of small mammal exclusion on the abundance of a shrub, bush lupine (Lupinus arboreus), influences the abundance of a native land snail (Helminthoglypta arrosa) in coastal prairie and dune habitats in central California. The factors that limit populations of land snails are very poorly known despite the threats to the persistence of this group of species. In grasslands, prior vole (Microtus californicus) exclusion created long-lasting gains in bush lupine abundance, mediated through the seedbank, and was associated with increased snail numbers (10×) compared to control plots where mammals were never excluded. Similar plots in dune habitat showed no difference in snail numbers due to previous mammal exclusion. We tested whether increased competition for food, increased predation, and/or lower desiccation explained the decline in snail numbers in plots with reduced lupine cover. Tethering experiments supported the hypothesis that voles can have long-lasting impacts as ecosystem engineers, reducing woody lupine habitat required for successful aestivation by snails. These results add to a growing list of studies that have found that non-trophic interactions can be limiting to invertebrate consumers.     

Effects of Habitat Structure and Adjacent Habitats on Birds in Tropical Rainforest Fragments and Shaded Plantations in the Western Ghats, India

As large nature reserves occupy only a fraction of the earth’s land surface, conservation biologists are critically examining the role of private lands, habitat fragments, and plantations for conservation. This study in a biodiversity hotspot and endemic bird area, the Western Ghats mountains of India, examined the effects of habitat structure, floristics, and adjacent habitats on bird communities in shade-coffee and cardamom plantations and tropical rainforest fragments. Habitat and birds were sampled in 13 sites: six fragments (three relatively isolated and three with canopy connectivity with adjoining shade-coffee plantations and forests), six plantations differing in canopy tree species composition (five coffee and one cardamom), and one undisturbed primary rainforest control site in the Anamalai hills. Around 3300 detections of 6000 individual birds belonging to 106 species were obtained. The coffee plantations were poorer than rainforest in rainforest bird species, particularly endemic species, but the rustic cardamom plantation with diverse, native rainforest shade trees, had bird species richness and abundance comparable to primary rainforest. Plantations and fragments that adjoined habitats providing greater tree canopy connectivity supported more rainforest and fewer open-forest bird species and individuals than sites that lacked such connectivity. These effects were mediated by strong positive effects of vegetation structure, particularly woody plant variables, cane, and bamboo, on bird community structure. Bird community composition was however positively correlated only to floristic (tree species) composition of sites. The maintenance or restoration of habitat structure and (shade) tree species composition in shade-coffee and cardamom plantations and rainforest fragments can aid in rainforest bird conservation in the regional landscape.     

Conservation value of degraded habitats for forest birds in southern Peninsular Malaysia

Clearance of tropical forest for agricultural purposes is generally assumed to seriously threaten the survival of forest species. In this study, we quantified the conservation value, for forest bird species, of three degraded habitat types in Peninsular Malaysia, namely rubber tree plantations, oil palm plantations, and open areas. We surveyed these degraded habitats using point counts to estimate their forest bird species richness and abundance. We assessed whether richness, abundance, and activities of different avian dietary groups (i.e. insectivores and frugivores) varied among the habitats. We identified the critical habitat elements that accounted for the distribution of forest avifauna in these degraded habitats. Our results showed that these habitats harboured a moderate fraction of forest avifauna (approximately 46–76 species) and their functions were complementary (i.e. rubber tree plantations for moving; open habitats for perching; shrubs in oil palm plantations for foraging). In terms of species richness and abundance, rubber tree plantations were more important than oil palm plantations and open habitats. The relatively high species richness of this agricultural landscape was partly due to the contiguity of our study areas with extensive forest areas. Forecasts of forest-species presence under various canopy cover scenarios suggest that leaving isolated trees among non-arboreal crops could greatly attract relatively tolerant species that require tree canopy. The conservation value of degraded habitats in agricultural landscapes seems to depend on factors such as the type of crops planted and distance to primary forest remnants.     

The effect of horse, cattle and sheep grazing on the diversity and abundance of land snails in nutrient-poor calcareous grasslands

Livestock grazing is a common management practise in semi-natural grasslands in Central Europe. Different types of livestock (horses, cattle, sheep) and grazing intensity are known to affect the richness and composition of plant species. However, knowledge of grazing-dependent effects on invertebrates is limited. We examined the influence of horse, cattle and sheep grazing on the richness, abundance and composition of land snail species in 21 calcareous nutrient-poor grassland areas in the northwestern Jura Mountains, Switzerland. Grazing by different livestock species did not affect the species richness, abundance and species composition of land snails. Furthermore, the number of open-land species and the ratio of large- to small-sized snail species or individuals did not differ among the three pasture types. However, independent of livestock species, grazing intensity negatively influenced the snail fauna. Snail species richness, abundance and number of Red list species decreased with increasing grazing intensity. Grazing intensity also affected the occurrence of individual snail species (Truncatellina cylindrica, Cecilioides acicula, Candidula unifasciata and Trichia plebeia). To preserve the snail fauna in nutrient-poor grasslands, pastures can be stocked with horses, cattle or sheep. However, both maximum stocking rate (number of livestock units per hectare) and grazing duration (number of grazing days per year) must be carefully defined for the proper management of the pastures.     

The feeding habits of Sargochromis Codringtonii in Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

The food of adult Sargochromis codringtonii in Lake Kariba was dominated by prosobranch snails with pulmonate snails forming an insignificant dietary component. S. codringtonii does not show particular preference for any snail species, feeding on those species that are readily available. Morphometrical analysis of the feeding structures of S. codringtonii showed that the fish is well adapted to handling a molluscivorous diet. The pharyngeal jaws with their flat crowned teeth are well adapted to crushing molluscs. The daily food consumption rate of S. codringtonii was estimated over different seasons. Estimates of food consumption indicate that the fish consumed 13.96% of their dry body weight per day in summer falling to 4.46% in winter. The low consumption of pulmonate snails suggests that S. codringtonii can not be a successful biological control agent against the vectors of schistosomiasis.