Table 2 - uploaded by James Byers
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
Established populations of introduced Pomacea maculata, a highly fecund, large species of apple snail native to South America, now occur throughout southeast Asia, in Spain and extensively across the southern United States. Substantial research on non-native apple snails takes place in Southeast Asia and has frequently identified apple snails as P....
Similar publications
Hydrological and trophic gradients influence primary consumer populations in aquatic ecosystems, but their impacts remain unresolved for some species. We quantified the effects of water depth variation on reproduction and the effects of metaphyton (food) total phosphorus (TP) on juvenile growth and survival of two species of apple snails. The two s...
Citations
... This rapid population growth aligns with observations in other countries (e.g. Burks et al. 2017), as well as for the congeneric P. canaliculata (e.g. Estoy et al. 2002). ...
The negative interaction between multiple invasive species, when an invasive predator benefits from a previously introduced and abundant prey, poses unanticipated challenges for the joint management of invaders. To illustrate this question, we describe the surge and collapse of the invasive apple snail Pomacea maculata population before and after the arrival of the invasive blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, in the Ebro River (NE Spain). These two invaders have coincided for the first time beyond their respective native and prior invasive ranges, and thus lack any previous shared eco-evolutionary history facilitating coexistence. We leverage data from a 9-year apple snail removal programme (2014–2022) conducted by authorities to evaluate the effectiveness of the management programme and describe the apple snail temporal dynamics in the Ebro River. Since its arrival in 2013, the apple snail population increased exponentially along the river and adjacent rice-fields despite labour-intensive eradication efforts. Unexpectedly, riverine populations of the apple snail declined by 90% in 2018 relative to the prior year without apparent association with previous management efforts. Simultaneously, the blue crab was first recorded in the Ebro River in 2018, and its distribution rapidly overlapped the whole area invaded by apple snails. We suggest that over-predation by the blue crab is the main cause of the decline observed in the apple snail, and discuss the implications of this new invader-invader interaction for management. This study underscores the unforeseen consequences of subsequent waves of invasion, and the importance of supporting management with a deeper understanding of ecological interactions among invasive predator and prey species.
... Other sources of diversity may include mutation or inoculation by females carrying sperm from multiple males (Eales et al. 2010). Pomacea maculata have high rates of reproduction (max: 36-54 k eggs per female lifetime fecundity; Burks et al. 2017) and relatively rapid generation time (min. 3-4 months; Bernatis 2014; Yoshida et al. 2014), which can lead to greater genetic diversity (Romiguier et al. 2014). ...
Aquatic invasive species decrease biodiversity and disrupt economic systems worldwide. Apple snails (Ampullaridae) from the genus Pomacea are globally invasive species that are highly damaging to aquaculture and aquatic ecosystems. Pomacea maculata was introduced to Louisiana in the early 2000s and rapidly spread throughout the southern half of the state, where invasive populations now threaten valuable aquaculture economies and a large area of aquatic ecosystems that sustain biodiversity important to commercial and recreational fisheries. Despite these risks, little work has been dedicated to understanding how apple snails disperse through invaded areas in Louisiana. To shed light on potential dispersal dynamics, we assessed population genetic structure of P. maculata in Louisiana at multiple spatial scales using microsatellites of snails collected from seven sampling locations. Overall, genetic diversity was relatively high across all sampling locations. Significant genetic structure was observed among sampling sites, indicating Barataria Preserve and the four sampling locations within Terrebonne Basin as distinct populations. Genetic distances were smallest among the four sampling locations within Terrebonne Basin. These findings suggest that dispersal within hydrologic units is higher than between units, meaning that apple snails may primarily move through systems through passive downstream dispersal. However, geographically distant populations also showed evidence of genetic mixing, pointing toward human-aided long-distance dispersal events. Regular dispersal of apple snails within and among hydrologic units highlights the risk of invasions in highly interconnected aquatic systems where dispersal rates may be especially high due to human modifications.
... The nonnative snail's introduction to Florida, confirmed genetically in 2002, was likely through the aquarium trade (Cowie & Robinson, 2003;Howells et al., 2006). The current distribution throughout the coastal southern states of the USA, that is Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina (Rawlings et al., 2007;Byers et al., 2013), suggests repeated introductions and subsequent expansions of established populations (Burks et al., 2017). There is evidence of the presence of P. maculata in Florida lakes dating back to at least 2001 (Gutierre et al., 2019). ...
... There is evidence of the presence of P. maculata in Florida lakes dating back to at least 2001 (Gutierre et al., 2019). Annual Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission Lake Surveys report the number of Florida lakes infested by this nonnative snail has increased from 4 lakes covering 1,934 hectares in 2006 to 164 lakes covering 366,871 hectares in 2014 (Burks et al., 2017). ...
During the 21st century, wetlands are predicted to decrease by an estimated 70% worldwide due to multiple factors, including climate change (Nicholls, Hoozemans & Marchand, 1999; Fagherazzi et al., 2012). Saltwater intrusion linked to sea level rise and diverted river flow will have a significant impact on Florida's wetland ecosystems (Herbert et al., 2015). While the natural drivers of saltwater intrusion include storm surges, hurricanes and an oscillating climate, anthropogenic-driven changes in hydrology and climate change intensify the effects of rising sea levels (White & Kaplan, 2017). A projected global mean sea level rise of 8–16 mm/yr is predicted between 2081 and 2100, resulting in a 0.52–0.98 m rise by 2100 (IPCC, 2013).
The rate of environmental change and a species’ sensitivity to change determine whether a species can adapt fast enough to survive a changing climate (Pearlstine, Pearlstine & Aumen, 2010). In Florida, due to drainage needs for agricultural and residential development, canals and levees were constructed, which over time have had a detrimental impact upon Florida's wetland ecosystems. Approximately 50% of the Everglades has been drained since Florida flood control projects were established in 1948 (Scheidt & Kalla, 2007), and the hydrology of the remaining wetlands has been altered (Gunderson, 1989). These changes have caused a decline in native apple snail populations, which are the predominant food source of the Florida snail kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus), an endangered raptor that preys on the native Florida apple snail (Beissinger, Donnay & Walton, 1994; Burks, Miller & Hill, 2020).
... Pomacea canaliculata was listed as one the world's 100 most invasive species (Lowe et al. 2000). In addition, The United States Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force has expressed concerns regarding members of Ampullariidae, including Pomacea (Burks et al. 2017). ...
Pomacea is a freshwater snail in family Ampullariidae that is native to South and Central America. This snail is among the more important intermediate hosts for Angiostrongylus cantonensis and agricultural pests. Herein, we investigated the prevalence of A. cantonensis larvae and the genetic diversity of Pomacea samples collected across Thailand based on mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences. The larval-infection rate was 1.7% in Pomacea canaliculata specimens collected from the Uttaradit Province of northern Thailand. We randomly selected specimens of P. canaliculata and P. maculata for genetic analysis. We analyzed 244 COI sequences, including 49 sequences from samples collected from Thailand and a publicly accessible database of snails in their native and non-native ranges. A maximum-likelihood tree of P. canaliculata and P. maculata revealed two main clades. The genetic diversity analysis identified seven P. canaliculata haplotypes and six P. maculata haplotypes, and showed genetic differences between the populations of P. canaliculata and P. maculata. The haplotype networks of P. canaliculata and P. maculata populations in Thailand are similar to those of populations in multiple countries, indicating that this species spread widely to many parts of the world.
... It remains to be known whether the P. occulta PQ value would overlap with one or other of the two species and thereby cause confusion. While the management responses to the invasion of P. canaliculata and P. maculata may be similar, it is still important to know what species are present in each site since their propagation potential, ecological impacts, susceptibility to predation and the rate of population growth differ markedly (Burks et al. 2017). ...
Pomacea canaliculata and P. maculata are freshwater apple snails considered two of the most invasive alien species worldwide. They are expanding their ranges in Asia, Europe and North America, damaging crops, wetland ecosystems and endangering human health. Despite having different invasive potential, they have systematically been misidentified because of their morphological plasticity with highly variable shells, which hampers efforts to manage their spread and impact. Thus, additional work is needed to clarify species boundaries in this group of Pomacea. Here we report a new taxonomic character based on the spectroscopic characteristics of their pigmented perivitellins (egg proteins) and a fast and simple method for measuring it. The egg perivitelline fluid is analyzed via conventional agarose gel electrophoresis and the naturally-colored egg carotenoproteins are extracted, without the need for staining, and analyzed spectrophotometrically. Then, the ratio between two wavelengths (PQ) of the absorbance spectra is calculated. Results can be obtained in less than 24 h. The method was validated in the field by analysing seven populations from Asia (non-native) and South America (native) that had been genetically identified and in which PQ differed consistently between the two species. Eggs are oviposited in conspicuous reddish masses above the waterline, allowing rapid detection and easy collection of samples in the field. This novel tool would be valuable in integrative taxonomic studies to distinguish these two lineages of Pomacea and contribute to our understanding of Pomacea diversity.
Graphic Abstract
... Consequently, apple snails serve as good study systems for understanding the complex processes driving diversification and speciation. While the lower vagility of snails may translate to lower range expansion potential (Angert et al., 2011), anthropogenic dispersal paired with adaptive traits often increases the pace of invasion (Capinha et al., 2015). ...
... Some species of Pomacea possess traits traditionally identified as facilitating invasiveness; these traits include a generalist herbivorous diet (Saveanu & Martín, 2013;Burks et al., 2017), tolerance to drying (Hayes et al., 2009a;Glasheen et al., 2017;Mueck et al., 2018) and reproductive strategies, such as high fecundity (Barnes et al., 2008;Tamburi & Martín, 2011), terrestrial oviposition (Burks, Kyle, & Trawick, 2010) and possibly introgressive hybridization (Matsukura et al., 2013). Interestingly, non-native P. canaliculata and P. maculata populations in Japan readily hybridize (Matsukura et al., 2013, indicating a possible role for hybridization during invasion. ...
... People often fish using apple snails of unknown identity as bait (Hayes, personal observation), and in this way P. canaliculata may be transported far outside its native range. Thus, ongoing anthropogenic dispersal (Capinha et al., 2015) may be a further contributory factor to the spread of this species, providing one plausible explanation for the unexpected hybrids we found at the site in Careiro Castanho, Brazil. This is further supported by the clustering of the COI haplotype from these individuals with geographically distant Argentinean and Uruguayan haplotypes instead of geographically proximate Brazilian haplotypes, a pattern suggestive of a recent introduction. ...
Genetic variation facilitates both natural range expansions and anthropogenic invasions. Contrary to expectations, hybridization does not always impact negatively on biodiversity. Increasing evidence indicates advantageous roles for introgressive hybridization in maintaining standing genetic variation. Hypothesizing that hybridization may contribute to the evolutionary and invasive success of a diverse group of freshwater snails (Ampullariidae, commonly known as apple snails), we estimated the frequency of hybridization between two globally invasive species of Pomacea, Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck, 1822) and P. maculata Perry, 1810, in their native range. While previous work in Asia has uncovered the occurrence of extensive hybridization, we provide the first phylogenetic evidence of a high degree of hybridization (30%) between these species in Uruguay and Brazil. Hybrids carried both heterozygous and homozygous combinations of elongation factor 1-α (EF1α) nuclear alleles in both mating directions, indicating that hybridization has occurred over multiple generations and likely preceded introductions outside the native range. Among the five sites in Brazil previously documented as containing only P. maculata, one far northern population (Careiro Castanho), which is thousands of kilometres from the northern range of P. canaliculata, unexpectedly contained hybrids. This may be the result of human-facilitated introductions. Together with recent work from Asia, our investigations in the native range of apple snails support a reframing of historical perspectives of hybridization as a driver of extinction and diversity loss towards a modern paradigm where hybridization may promote diversification and contribute to the survival of evolutionary lineages such as molluscs.
... Initial encounters of non-native snails in southern WCA3A were in a relatively low water year (2011), but hydrologic conditions in this part of WCA3A were generally favorable (see [43] regarding favorable conditions) for apple snails from 2012 to 2015. Both P. maculata [32] and P. paludosa [43] tolerate dry down conditions to some degree, but how periodic dry downs affect dispersal into new areas, such as central WCA3A, requires further investigation. ...
The spread of non-native species raises concerns about native species displacement, while other negative effects on native species (e.g., habitat degradation) should also be considered. The highly invasive non-native apple snail Pomacea maculata has raised such concerns as it has become established in a wide range of aquatic systems worldwide. While monitoring native Florida P. paludosa populations in Lake Tohopekaliga (LTOHO) from 2001 to 2009 and in Water Conservation Area 3A (WCA3A, Everglades) from 2006 to 2015, we opportunistically documented the establishment and distribution of P. maculata. We estimated snail densities and recorded egg cluster presence in three study sites (12 total plots, LTOHO) and 137 sites (WCA3). On LTOHO, native snails were absent or at very low densities prior to finding P. maculata. Few snails of either species were found in high-stem-density vegetation of the littoral zone. Pomacea maculata immigration into the littoral zone occurred following managed vegetation removal, and Hydrilla verticillata proliferation in LTOHO likely contributed to the spread of P. maculata. We found both native and non-native apple snail species in many WCA3A sites following P. maculata invasion. We initially found the non-native snail in two sites in southern WCA3A; they were mostly restricted to within three kilometers of initial sites over the next four years. Overall plant community compositions in LTOHO and WCA3A appeared less impacted than expected based on previous reports of P. maculata invasions.
Pomacea maculata is a widely distributed agricultural and environmental pest in Asia. It is also causing ecological damage and threatening human health in the Southeastern United States. However, its limited mobility and fast consumption of aquatic vegetation may make it an excellent biomonitor to evaluate the pollution status of freshwater coastal ecosystems. This work investigated the capability of the operculum of this snail to accumulate toxic metals in a laboratory environment. We measured the elemental composition of the nucleus and edge regions on the varnish layer of the operculum by employing a MeV ion microprobe instrument. Iron, copper, and zinc were present in the operculum at trace levels. Copper was present at elevated levels in the operculum of snails exposed to copper for 2 weeks. Additionally, heterogeneity in the distribution of major and trace elements within the gastropod’s operculum was revealed by 2D elemental images obtained using microparticle-induced X-ray emission spectrometry. On average, the nucleus of the operculum showed a higher accumulation of copper than did the edge. These results demonstrate that micro-PIXE can be used to look at the within-tissue distribution of toxic metals in hard tissues like a snail’s operculum. We propose that the operculum metal concentrations can be used as a bioindicator capable of providing information on the ecosystem’s health and potentially reveal temporal changes in this health.
The widespread
Pomacea canaliculata
and
Pomacea maculata
in North America and Asia have caused significant adverse effects on the local ecological environment and residents’ health. Timely knowledge of the distribution of eggs from the two
Pomacea
spp. in a certain region can effectively reduce the cost of treatment and improve prevention effectiveness. Most of the existing methods are only able to identify eggs from the two
Pomacea
spp. or detect them in specific but not natural environments while they cannot achieve good results in the face of a complex real-world scene. This letter proposes a model for detecting eggs from the two
Pomacea
spp. based on dynamic convolution and multiscale feature fusion. The model can identify and locate the eggs of the two
Pomacea
spp. effectively. At the same time, we combined the proposed model with scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm to design a system for counting eggs of the two
Pomacea
spp., which can automatically identify the eggs in the actual natural environment and alleviate duplicate counting caused by image acquisition. Besides, we also built a dataset of 20 000 images of
Pomacea canaliculata
eggs and
Pomacea maculata
eggs from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aerial photography. Experimental results showed that the proposed deep learning model has a better performance than others, and the proposed computer vision system can be successfully applied to support
Pomacea
spp. disease management.
