Exploring the Role of Land snails in Ecosystems

Genetic approaches are key to expanding the scope of land snail ecology and establishing their place in ecosystems. Land snails can contribute significantly to decomposition processes, and herbivorous species exert influence on plant populations through consumption of seedlings. Although selective feeding of plants has been observed, feeding preferences upon the decomposer community of fungus or bacteria species and these snails’ possible contribution to the spread of spores is very poorly known. Problematically, discerning diet by examining land snail feces is work-intensive, and the lowest taxonomic levels usually cannot be separated by eye. One step up the food chain, the literature on the predators and diseases of land snails is largely anecdotal. Visual analyses of feces or stomach contents of predators would generally overlook slugs and often snails, whose soft bodies are digested quickly. It should be possible to answer important questions in invasion and conservation biology by performing metabarcoding on the feces of land snails and their potential predators. Another possible use of genetic approaches is in surveying land snails. Weather and other environmental factors can strongly affect traditional surveying methods for slugs or rare snails. Biodiversity surveys and population genetics studies could be greatly aided if mucus and other land snail residues could be genotyped rather than the animals themselves, which are so frequently hidden and inaccessible.