Many organisms have evolved inducible defences in response to spatial and temporal variability in predation risk. These defences are assumed to incur large costs to prey; however, few studies have investigated the mechanisms and costs underlying these adaptive responses. I examined the proximate cause of predator-induced shell thickening in a marine snail (Nucella lamellosa) and tested whether ...

The interactive effects of ocean acidification (OA) and parasitic infection have the potential to alter the performance of many marine organisms. Parasitic infection can affect host organisms’ response to abiotic stressors, and vice versa, while the response of marine organisms to stressors associated with OA can vary within and between taxonomic groups (host or parasite). Accordingly, it seems...

Assessment of plastic and heritable components of phenotypic variation is crucial for understanding the evolution of adaptive character traits in heterogeneous environments. We assessed the above in relation to adaptive shell morphology of the rocky intertidal snail Nucella lapillus by reciprocal transplantation of snails between two shores differing in wave action and rearing snails of the sam...

Sexual dimorphisms in shell-bearing snails expressed by characteristic traits of their respective shells would offer the possibility for a lot of studies about gender distribution in populations, species, etc. In this study, the seven main shell characters of the snail Cochlostoma septemspirale were measured in both sexes: (1) height and (2) width of the shell, (3) height and (4) width of the a...

—The New Zealand mud snail (NZMS), Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Gray), is an invasive species of aquatic snail that is becoming widespread in inland and coastal waters of the western United States. The New Zealand mud snail can have significant impacts on stream ecosystems, as they may consume a large fraction of available algae production and compete with and displace native invertebrates. Even t...

Gastropods have lost the quintessential snail feature, the coiled shell, numerous times in evolution. In many cases these animals have developed a limpet morphology with a cap-shaped shell and a large foot. Limpets thrive in marginal habitats such as hydrothermal vents, the high-energy rocky intertidal areas and fresh water, but they are considered to be evolutionary dead-ends, unable to re-evo...

The cosmopolitan freshwater pulmonate snail Physa acuta hybridizes readily with Physa carolinae in the laboratory, although their F1 progeny are sterile. The two species differ qualitatively in shell shape, the former bearing a more globose shell and the latter more fusiform. We performed a hybridization experiment, measuring a set of 14 traditional (linear) and landmark-based shell morphologic...

Very little is known about the evolution of molluskan shell pigments, although Mollusca is a highly diverse, species rich, and ecologically important group of animals comprised of many brightly colored taxa. The marine snail genus Clanculus was chosen as an exceptional model for studying the evolution of shell color, first, because in Clanculus margaritarius and Clanculus pharaonius both shell ...

Sensitive detection techniques are key to inform management practices for invasive and pest species by identifying the species’ distribution or presence of biological control agents that may negate need chemical control. Environmental DNA (eDNA) can be detected infer rare, cryptic, species. This study provides a method expands application eDNA within terrestrial systems. Our is focused on crypt...

The widespread distributions of aquatic species often contrast with their limited ability to disperse by their own propulsion among wetlands isolated by land. Studies of the potential role of water birds as dispersal vectors have been focused mainly on internal transport (endozoochory). However, many anecdotal observations that small species adhere to flying birds also exist (ectozoochory). We ...