Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T09:46:47.095Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Fifteen - Non-Marine Molluscs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2023

By
Robert H. Cowie ,
Benoît Fontaine  and
Philippe Bouchet
Edited by
Norman Maclean
Norman Maclean
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
Get access

Summary

Non-marine molluscs stand out as the major animal group under the most severe threat. Among the 8664 mollusc species evaluated for the IUCN Red List (version 2019-1), 300 are considered Extinct out of a total 872 listed Extinct species. However, only ~10% of molluscs have been evaluated and other assessments of the number of extinct species are much higher, 3000 to over 5000, almost exclusively non-marine species. As for most other groups, threats faced by non-marine molluscs are habitat loss, probably the most important, but also impacts of introduced species, exploitation, generally of less concern, and climate change, likely to have serious effects into the future. Oceanic island species, often narrowly endemic, are especially threatened and constitute a high proportion of recorded extinctions. Anthropogenic activities have caused non-marine mollusc extinctions since prehistory, but threats have increased greatly over the last few centuries and will probably continue to increase. Most mollusc species for which a population trend has been evaluated by IUCN are stable or declining; those few that are increasing are primarily introduced and invasive. Most threatened are oceanic island snails, North American and other freshwater bivalves, and the diverse and highly endemic micro-snails of Southeast Asian limestone outcrops.

Keywords

MolluscTerrestrialGastropodaCephalopodaBivalveIslandsSnailsSlugsRed List
Type
Chapter
Information
The Living Planet
The State of the World's Wildlife
 , pp. 288 - 310
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albrecht, C., Hauffe, T., Schreiber, K. and Wilke, T. (2012) Mollusc biodiversity in a European ancient lake system: lakes Prespa and Mikri Prespa in the Balkans. Hydrobiologia 682: 47–59.Google Scholar
Anthony, J.L. and Downing, J.A. (2001) Exploitation trajectory of a declining fauna: a century of freshwater mussel fisheries in North America. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 58: 2071–2090.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashmole, P. and Ashmole, A. (2000) St Helena and Ascension Island: A Natural History. Oswestry, UK: Anthony Nelson.Google Scholar
Beasley, C.R. (2001) The impact of exploitation on freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Hyriidae) in the Tocantins River, Brazil. Stud Neotrop 36: 159–165.Google Scholar
bij de Vaate, A. Breukel, R. and van der Velde, G. (2006) Long-term developments in ecological rehabilitation of the main distributaries in the Rhine delta: fish and macroinvertebrates. Hydrobiologia 565: 229–242.Google Scholar
Bogan, A.E. (2006) Conservation and extinction of the freshwater molluscan fauna of North America, In: Sturm, C.F., Pearce, T.A., Valdés, A. (Eds.), The Mollusks: A Guide to Their Study, Collection, and Preservation. Pittsburgh, PA: American Malacological Society.Google Scholar
Bouchet, P., Ripken, T. and Recorbet, B. (1997) Redécouverte de l’escargot de Corse Helix ceratina au bord de l’extinction. Rev Écol 52: 97–111.Google Scholar
Buckley, T.R., White, D.J., Howitt, R., et al., (2014) Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA variation within threatened species and subspecies of the giant New Zealand land snail genus Powelliphanta: implications for classification and conservation. J Molluscan Stud 80: 291–302.Google Scholar
Cameron, R.A.D., Pokryszko, B.M. and Frias Martins, A.M. (2012) Land snail faunas on Santa Maria (Azores): local diversity in an old, isolated and disturbed island. J Molluscan Stud 78: 268–274.Google Scholar
Campbell, K. and Donlan, J.C. (2005) Feral goat eradications on islands. Conserv Biol 19: 1362–1374.Google Scholar
Carlton, J.T., Geller, J.B., Reaka-Kudla, M.L. and Norse, E.A. (1999) Historical extinctions in the sea. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 30: 515–538.Google Scholar
Chiba, S. and Cowie, R.H. (2016) Evolution and extinction of land snails on oceanic islands. Ann Rev Ecol Evol Syst 47: 123–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, B., Murray, J. and Johnson, M.S. (1984) The extinction of endemic species by a program of biological control. Pacific Sci 38: 97–104.Google Scholar
Collado, G.A., Vidal, M.A., Aguayo, K.P., et al. (2019) Morphological and molecular analysis of cryptic native and invasive freshwater snails in Chile. Sci Rep 9: 7846.Google Scholar
Conte, E. and Kirch, P.V. (2008) One thousand years of human environmental transformation in the Gambier Islands (French Polynesia). In: Clark, G., Leach, F. and O’Connor, S. (Eds.), Colonization, Seafaring and the Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes. Islands of Inquiry (Terra Australis 29). Acton, Australia: Australian National University Press.Google Scholar
Coote, T. and Loève, É. (2003) From 61 species to five: endemic tree snails of the Society Islands fall prey to an ill-judged biological control programme. Oryx 37: 91–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coote, T., Garcia, G. and Clarke, D. (2019) Fourth year of Partula species reintroductions into natural habitat on Tahiti and Moorea. Tentacle 27: 35–38.Google Scholar
Cowie, R.H., and Cook, R.P. (2001) Extinction or survival: partulid tree snails in American Samoa. Biodivers Conserv 10: 143–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowie, R.H. and Robinson, D.G. (2003) Pathways of introduction of nonindigenous land and freshwater snails and slugs. In: Ruiz, G. and Carlton, J.T. (Eds.), Invasive Species: Vectors and Management Strategies. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Cowie, R.H., Régnier, C., Fontaine, and Bouchet, B., P. (2017) Measuring the Sixth Extinction: what do mollusks tell us? Nautilus 131(1): 3–41.Google Scholar
Curry, P.A., Yeung, N.W., Hayes, K.A., et al. (2016) Rapid range expansion of an invasive predatory snail, Oxychilus alliarius (Miller 1822), and its impact on endemic Hawaiian land snails. Biol Invasions 18: 1769–1780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, P.A., Yeung, N.W., Hayes, K.A. and Cowie, R.H. (2019) The potential tropical island distribution of a temperate invasive snail, Oxychilus alliarius, modeled on its distribution in Hawaii. Biol Invasions 22: 307–327.Google Scholar
Darrigran, G., Damborenea, C., Drago, E.C., et al. (2012) Invasion process of Limnoperna fortunei (Bivalvia: Mytilidae): the case of Uruguay River and emissaries of the Esteros del Iberá Wetland, Argentina. Zoologia 29: 531–539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Mattia, W., Neiber, M.T. and Groh, K. (2018) Revision of the genus-group Hystricella R.T. Lowe, 1855 from Porto Santo (Madeira Archipelago), with descriptions of new recent and fossil taxa (Gastropoda, Helicoidea, Geomitridae). ZooKeys. 732: 1–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fontaine, B., Bouchet, P., Van Achterberg, K., et al. (2007a) The European Union’s 2010 target: putting rare species in focus. Biol Conserv 139: 167–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fontaine, B., Gargominy, O. and Neubert, E. (2007b) Priority sites for conservation of land snails in Gabon: testing the umbrella species concept. Divers Distrib 13: 725–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, R., Harrower, C.A., Bell, J.R., et al. (2019) Insect population trends and the IUCN Red List process. J Insect Conserv 23: 269–278.Google Scholar
Gargominy, O. (2008) Beyond the alien invasion: a recently discovered radiation of Nesopupinae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Vertiginidae) from the summits of Tahiti (Society Islands, French Polynesia). J Conchol 39: 517–536.Google Scholar
Gerlach, J. (2016) Icons of Evolution: Pacific Island Tree-Snails of the Family Partulidae. Cambridge, UK: Phelsuma Press.Google Scholar
Goodfriend, G.A., Cameron, R.A.D. and Cook, L.M. (1994) Fossil evidence of recent human impact on the land snail fauna of Madeira. J Biogeogr 21: 309–320.Google Scholar
Griffiths, O.L. and Florens, V.F.B. (2006) A Field Guide to the Non-Marine Molluscs of the Mascarene Islands. Mauritius: Bioculture Press.Google Scholar
Haag, W.R. (2009) Past and future patterns of freshwater mussel extinctions in North America during the Holocene. In: Turvey, S. (Ed.), Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Haag, W.R. (2019) Reassessing enigmatic mussel declines in the United States. Freshw Mollusk Biol Conserv 22: 43–60.Google Scholar
Hadfield, M.G. (1986) Extinction in Hawaiian achatinelline snails. Malacologia 27: 67–81.Google Scholar
Haponski, A.E., Lee, T. and Ó Foighil, D. (2019) Deconstructing an infamous extinction crisis: survival of Partula species on Moorea and Tahiti. Evol Appl 12: 1017–1033.Google Scholar
Hastie, L.C., Cosgrove, P.J., Ellis, N. and Gaywood, M.J. (2003) The threat of climate change to freshwater pearl mussel populations. AMBIO 32: 40–47.Google Scholar
IUCN. (2012) IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Version 3.1. Second Edn. Gland, Switzerland; Cambridge, UK: IUCN.Google Scholar
IUCN. (2019) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2019-1. Gland, Switzerland; Cambridge, UK: IUCN.Google Scholar
James, A.F., Brown, R., Weston, K.A. and Walker, K. (2013) Modelling the growth and population dynamics of the exiled Stockton coal plateau landsnail, Powelliphanta augusta. NZ J Zool 40: 175–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karatayev, A.Y., Burlakova, L.E. and Padilla, D.K. (2015) Zebra versus quagga mussels: a review of their spread, population dynamics, and ecosystem impacts Hydrobiologia 746: 97–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Köhler, F., Seddon, M., Bogan, A. and Do, T.V. (2012) The status and distribution of freshwater molluscs of the Indo-Burma region. In: Allen, D.G., Smith, K.G., Darwall, W.R.T. (Eds.), The Status and Distribution of Freshwater Biodiversity in Indo-Burma. Gland, Switzerland; Cambridge, UK: IUCN.Google Scholar
Kreeger, D.A., Gatenby, C.M. and Bergstrom, P.W. (2018) Restoration potential of several native species of bivalve molluscs for water quality improvement in mid-Atlantic watersheds. J Shellfish Res 37: 1121–1157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyle, R., Reid, N., O’Connor, N. and Roberts, D. (2017) Development of release methods for captive-bred freshwater pearl mussels (Margaritifera margaritifera). Aquat Conserv 27: 492–501.Google Scholar
Locy, D., Proch, R. and Bogan, A. (2002) Anodonta suborbiculata (Say, 1831) added to the freshwater bivalve fauna of Pennsylvania. Ellipsaria 4(3): 10.Google Scholar
Lydeard, C., Cowie, R.H., Ponder, W.F., et al. (2004) The global decline of nonmarine mollusks. BioScience 54: 321–330.Google Scholar
McKinney, M.L. (1998) Is marine biodiversity at less risk? Evidence and implications. Divers Distrib 4: 3–8.Google Scholar
Meyer, W.M. III, Yeung, N.W., Slapcinsky, J. and Hayes, K.A. (2017) Two for one: inadvertent introduction of Euglandina species during failed bio-control efforts in Hawaii. Biol Invasions 19: 1399–1405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mori, H., Inada, M. and Chiba, S. (2020) Conservation programmes for endemic land snails on the Ogasawara Islands: captive breeding and control of invasive species. Tentacle 28: 23–27.Google Scholar
Morris, R. (2010) An unfortunate experiment. Forest Bird 337: 14–18.Google Scholar
Murray, J., Murray, E., Johnson, M.S. and Clarke, B. (1988) The extinction of Partula on Moorea. Pacific Sci 42: 150–153.Google Scholar
Neto, N.A.L., Voeks, R.A., Dias, T.L.P. and Alves, R.R.N. (2012) Mollusks of Candomblé: symbolic and ritualistic importance. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 8: 10.Google Scholar
Neubert, E., Chérel-Mora, C. and Bouchet, P. (2009) Polytypy, clines, and fragmentation: the bulimes of New Caledonia revisited (Pulmonata, Orthalicoidea, Placostylidae). Mém Mus Natl Hist Nat 198: 37–131.Google Scholar
Neubert, E., Seddon, M.B., Allen, D.J., et al. (2019) European Red List of Terrestrial Molluscs. Cambridge, UK; Brussels, Belgium: IUCN.Google Scholar
Neves, R.J. (2004)Propagation of endangered freshwater mussels in North America. J Conchol Spec Publ 3: 69–80.Google Scholar
Nicolai, A. and Ansart, A. (2017) Conservation at a slow pace: terrestrial gastropods facing fast-changing climate. Conserv Physiol 5(1): cox007.Google Scholar
Nyoagbe, L.A., Appiah, V., Nketsia-Tabiri, J., Larbi, D. and Adjei, I. (2016) Evaluation of African giant snails (Achatina and Archachatina) obtained from markets (wild) and breeding farms. Afr J Food Sci 10: 94–104.Google Scholar
Otto, R., Garzón-Machado, V., del Arcoet, M., et al. (2017) Unpaid extinction debts for endemic plants and invertebrates as a legacy of habitat loss on oceanic islands. Divers Distrib 23: 1031–1041.Google Scholar
Outerbridge, M.E., Ovaska, K. and Garcia, G. (2019) Back from the brink: recovery efforts for endemic land snails of Bermuda. Tentacle 27: 16–18.Google Scholar
Pearce, T.A. and Paustian, M.E. (2013) Are temperate land snails susceptible to climate change through reduced altitudinal ranges? A Pennsylvania example. Am Malacol Bull 31(2): 213–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Quintero, J.C. (2011) Freshwater mollusc biodiversity and conservation in two stressed Mediterranean basins. Limnologica 41: 201–212.Google Scholar
Price, M.R. and Hadfield, M.G. (2014) Population genetics and the effects of a severe bottleneck in an ex situ population of critically endangered Hawaiian tree snails. PLoS One 9(12): e114377.Google Scholar
Régnier, C., Fontaine, B. and Bouchet, P. (2009) Not knowing, not recording, not listing: numerous unnoticed mollusk extinctions. Conserv Biol 23: 1214–1221.Google Scholar
Régnier, C., Achaz, G., Lambert, A., et al. (2015a) Mass extinction in poorly known taxa. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112(25): 7761–7766.Google Scholar
Régnier, C., Bouchet, P., Hayes, K.A., et al. (2015b) Extinction in a hyperdiverse endemic Hawaiian land snail family and implications for the underestimation of invertebrate extinction. Conserv Biol 29: 1715–1723.Google Scholar
Ricciardi, A., Neves, R.J. and Rasmussen, J.B. (1998) Impending extinction of North American freshwater mussels (Unionoida) following zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) invasion. J Animal Ecol 67: 613–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richling, I. and Bouchet, P. (2013) Extinct even before scientific recognition: a remarkable radiation of helicinid snails (Helicinidae) on the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia. Biodivers Conserv 22: 2433–2468.Google Scholar
Riedel, A. and Norris, A. (1987) An undescribed species of Zonites from the island of Santorini, Greece. J Conchol 32: 377–378.Google Scholar
Riley, L.A. and Dybdahl, M.F. (2015) The roles of resource availability and competition in mediating growth rates of invasive and native freshwater snails. Freshw Biol 60: 1308–1315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rundell, R.J. (2010) Diversity and conservation of the land snail fauna of the western Pacific islands of Belau (Republic of Palau, Oceania). Am Malacol Bull 28: 1–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sartori, A.F., Gargominy, O. and Fontaine, B. (2014) Radiation and decline of endodontid land snails in Makatea, French Polynesia. Zootaxa 3772: 1–68.Google Scholar
Schilthuizen, M., Liew, T.-S., Bin Elahan, B. and Lackman-Ancrenaz, I. (2005) Effects of karst forest degradation on pulmonate and prosobranch land snail communities in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Conserv Biol 19: 949–954.Google Scholar
Seddon, M.B., Tattersfield, P., Herbert, D.G., et al. (2005) Diversity of African forest mollusc faunas: what we have learned since Solem (1984). Rec West Aust Mus Suppl 68: 103–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seddon, M.[B.], Appleton, C., Van Damme, D. and Graf, D. 2011. Freshwater molluscs of Africa: diversity, distribution, and conservation. In: Darwall, W.R.T., Smith, K., Allen, D., et al. (Eds.), The Diversity of Life in African Freshwaters: Under Water, Under Threat. An Analysis of the Status and Distribution of Freshwater Species Throughout Mainland Africa. Gland, Switzerland; Cambridge, UK: IUCN.Google Scholar
Sîrbu, I. and Benedek, A.M. (2016) Requiem for Melanopsis parreyssii or the anatomy of a new extinction in Romania. Tentacle 24: 26–28.Google Scholar
Sîrbu, I., Gagiu, A. and Benedek, A.M. (2013) On the brink of extinction: fate of the Peţea thermal lake (Romania) and its endemic species. Tentacle 21: 35–37.Google Scholar
Sischo, D.R., Price, M.R., Pascua, M.-A. and Hadfield, M.G. (2016) Genetic and demographic insights into the decline of a captive population of the endangered Hawaiian tree snail Achatinella fuscobasis (Achatinellinae). Pacific Sci 70: 133–141.Google Scholar
Stebbings, R.E. and Killeen, I.J. (1998) Translocation of habitat for the snail Vertigo moulinsiana in England. J Conchol Spec Publ 2: 191–204.Google Scholar
Strayer, D.L. and Malcom, H.M. (2007) Effects of zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) on native bivalves: the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning? J N Am Benthol Soc 26: 111–112.Google Scholar
Van Damme, D., Köehler[sic], F., Andriamaro, L., Darwall, W. and Máiz-Tomé, L. (2018) The status and distribution of freshwater molluscs. In: Máiz-Tomé, L., Sayer, C. and Darwall, W. (Eds.), The Status and Distribution of Freshwater Biodiversity in Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands Hotspot. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.Google Scholar
Vermeulen, J.J. and Marzuki, M.E. (2014) ‘Charopa’ lafargei (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Charopidae), a new, presumed narrowly endemic species from Peninsular Malaysia. Basteria 78: 31–34.Google Scholar
Vogler, R.E., Beltramino, A.A., Strong, E.E., Rumi, A. and Peso, J.G. (2016) Insights into the evolutionary history of an extinct South American freshwater snail based on historical DNA. PLoS One 11(12): e0169191.Google Scholar
Walker, K.J., Trewick, S.A. and Barker, G.M. (2008) Powelliphanta augusta, a new species of land snail, with a description of its former habitat, Stockton coal plateau, New Zealand. J Royal Soc NZ 38: 163–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilke, T. (2019) Helicostoidae Pruvot-Fol 1937. In: Lydeard, C. and Cummings, K. (Eds.), Freshwater Mollusks of the World: A Distribution Atlas. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Williams, N. (2006) Road to oblivion. Curr Biol 16: R617–R618.Google Scholar
Yildirim, M.Z., Kebapçi, Ü. and Gümüș, B.A. (2004) Edible snails (terrestrial) of Turkey. Turk J Zool 28: 329–335.Google Scholar
Zhang, L.-J. (2017) A new species of freshwater snail Tchangmargarya (Gastropoda: Viviparidae) endemic to a vanished small lake in Yunnan, China. Molluscan Res 37: 252–257.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×