̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - ̽��ֱ��Zoological Society of London

‘Extinct’ snails found breeding in French Polynesia

jg533 — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 23:02:49 +0000

A global conservation effort to reintroduce a tiny snail to the wild is celebrating a momentous milestone: for the first time in 40 years, conservationists have found born-in-the-wild adult Partula tohiveana – meaning the precious molluscs have successfully established themselves in French Polynesia.

This year Cambridge’s Dr Justin Gerlach helped restore over 6,000 of the snails to Moorea, their French Polynesian island home as part of an annual reintroduction of zoo-bred ‘Extinct in the Wild’ and ‘Critically Endangered’ snail species – carried out through collaboration with zoos around the world.

During their work the team found unmarked Partula tohiveana: proof that previously reintroduced snails have successfully bred in the area.

̽��ֱ��momentous discovery means Partula tohiveana can now be considered as established – an incredibly rewarding result for 40 years of dedication and collaboration. Conservationists will now begin the process of downlisting the snails from ‘Extinct-in-the-Wild’ to ‘Critically Endangered’ on the IUCN’s Red List.

Very few species have been reintroduced successfully having been completely extinct in the wild. This is also the very first invertebrate species where this has been achieved.

Ten species and sub-species of the tropical snails, reared at London Zoo, Bristol Zoological Society, Detroit Zoological Society, Marwell Wildlife, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Saint Louis Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo and Zoo Schwerin, travelled more than 15,000km to Tahiti at the beginning of September. Before making the two-day journey to the islands of Tahiti, Moorea and Huahine, the incredibly rare snails, which each measure a tiny 1-2cm in length, were individually counted and marked with a dot of red UV reflective paint. ̽��ֱ��‘snail varnish’ glows under UV torchlight, helping conservationists in the field to spot and monitor the nocturnal snails at night, when they’re most active.

London Zoo’s Senior Curator of Invertebrates, Paul Pearce-Kelly, who leads the Partula conservation programme, said: “Though little, these snails have great cultural, scientific and conservation value. Partula snails have always been part of Polynesia’s rich cultural heritage and play an important role in the ecological health of their forest habitats. They’ve also been studied for over a century for the insights they give into how species evolve in isolated environments. Most recently, they’re providing a valuable conservation model for helping hundreds of endangered island species.”

He added: “This collaborative conservation effort is playing a crucial role in saving these species from extinction. It’s a powerful example of how conservation zoos can combat biodiversity loss. At a time when nature faces unprecedented challenges, these small snails are a symbol of hope for global wildlife.”

Partula snails - also known as Polynesian tree snails - eat decaying plant tissue and fungi, so play an important role in maintaining forest health. Returning these rare snails back to the wild helps to restore the ecological balance in these islands.

Dr Justin Gerlach of Peterhouse, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and an Academic Associate at the ̽��ֱ��'s Museum of Zoology, said: “Discovering wild-born adult snails was a great moment. Very few animal species have been re-established back in the wild so this is a fantastic achievement for the programme – the fruit of a vast amount of work.”

Conservation zoos are working with the French Polynesian Government’s Direction de l’environnement, to save Partula snails from extinction. In the 1980s and early 1990s, these snails faced a critical threat after the invasive rosy wolf snail (Euglandina rosea) was introduced to control the African giant land snail (Lissachatina fulica). Unfortunately, the predatory species targeted the native snails instead, leading to the extinction or near-extinction of many Partula species across the region.

In the early 1990s, the last remaining individuals of several Partula species were rescued by London and Edinburgh Zoos, launching an international conservation breeding programme. This collaboration between 15 zoos cares for 15 species and subspecies, most of which are classified as ‘Extinct-in-the-Wild’. These rescued snails, along with those already being studied at universities in the UK and North America, became the foundation for reintroducing the species back onto their native island homes.

Paul said: “After decades of caring for these species in conservation zoos and working with the Direction de l’environnement to prepare the islands, we started reintroducing Partula snails back into their lowland tropical forests almost 10 years ago. Since then, we’ve reintroduced over 30,000 snails, including 10 Extinct-in-the-Wild species and subspecies, with this year’s release being the largest so far, thanks to our international team and collaborators, including mollusc specialist Dr Justin Gerlach of Peterhouse, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.”

London Zoo’s coordination of the Partula snail reintroduction project is made possible due to funding from supporters including the Players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, who have enabled London Zoo to continue bringing species back from the brink of extinction.

Adapted from a press release by the Zoological Society of London.

A species of tropical tree snail is no longer extinct in the wild following a successful reintroduction project.

Very few animal species have been re-established back in the wild so this is a fantastic achievement for the programme – the fruit of a vast amount of work.

Justin Gerlach

Unmarked Partula tohiveana snail observed in the wild, meaning the species is re-established (c) Paul Pearce-Kelly

Born-in-the-wild unmarked Partula tohiveana snail observed in the wild, meaning the species is re-established (c) Paul Pearce-Kelly

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Protecting Europe’s seabirds

cg605 — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 16:19:04 +0000

Numerous European seabirds are at risk from climate change, according to new research led by ZSL ( ̽��ֱ��Zoological Society of London) in collaboration with the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Researchers have published a first-of-its-kind conservation guide to protecting the 47 species that breed along the Atlantic coastline; offering hope for the future of these important marine birds, by assessing their species-specific needs and laying out the actions needed to preserve each one.

ZSL Institute of Zoology post-doctoral fellow, Henry Häkkinen, who led the production of the guidelines, said: “It’s unthinkable that the Atlantic puffin, one of Europe’s most treasured seabirds, could disappear from our shores by the end of the century – alongside other important marine bird species.

“Seabirds are one of the most threatened groups of birds in the world, with many already seeing rapid global declines due to the impacts of human activity and climate change, including changes to food availability, extreme weather conditions and the loss of breeding grounds.

“These birds face double the challenges as they breed on land but rely on the sea for survival; by living across these two worlds, they are essential to both ecosystems and give us a glimpse into the health of wildlife in otherwise hard-to-monitor areas of the ocean – meaning their loss would impact countless other species and their conservation.”

̽��ֱ��two-year project to create the guidelines gathered evidence from more than 80 conservationists and policymakers across 15 European countries, alongside carefully collated information available from scientific papers across 10 different languages.

̽��ֱ��pioneering European collaboration is the first to co-develop guidelines in this way, with the team hoping to scale up the project to map the risks to seabirds on a global scale.

“Seabirds are migratory, flying vast distances overseas and oceans, and so to truly enhance conservation efforts we need to understand how climate change is altering their environment across their entire range.

“It’s essential to develop strong conservation measures to protect these birds against the climate crisis, but this requires species-specific understanding of the threats that they face. For some birds, like puffins, we have a strong grasp of how climate change impacts them, but for many species, such as eider ducks and ivory gulls, this knowledge is severely lacking. These gaps need to be urgently addressed for us to help these birds to survive.”

Project lead, ZSL Senior Research Fellow Dr Nathalie Pettorelli added: “ ̽��ֱ��challenges posed by rapid changes in climatic conditions require efficient coordination between science, policy and advocacy to ensure key questions are given research priority and effective conservation actions can be deployed in areas where they are most needed. These seabird conservation guidelines – and the process behind them – provide a vital and transferable framework that can help align efforts to prioritise and implement evidence-based climate change adaptation practices to safeguard a future for the species most at risk.

“ ̽��ֱ��time to act is now if we are to buffer species from the impacts of climate change.”

̽��ֱ��guidelines will be made available to all conservationists working with seabirds across Europe.

Article adapted from a press release by ZSL.

New conservation guide launched to protect European seabirds at risk from climate change

̽��ֱ��time to act is now if we are to buffer species from the impacts of climate change

Nathalie Pettorelli

Seppo Häkkinen

A group of puffins on a cliff at the Farne Islands by Seppo Häkkinen

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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