Skip Navigation



Journal Molluscan Studies Advance Access published online on August 17, 2009
Journal of Molluscan Studies, doi:10.1093/mollus/eyp039
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Horsák, M.
Right arrow Articles by Tichy, L.
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Horsák, M.
Right arrow Articles by Tichy, L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Malacological Society of London, all rights reserved

SNAIL FAUNAS IN THE SOUTHERN URAL FORESTS AND THEIR RELATIONS TO VEGETATION: AN ANALOGUE OF THE EARLY HOLOCENE ASSEMBLAGES OF CENTRAL EUROPE?

Michal Horsák1, Milan Chytry1, Jirí Danihelka1, Martin Kocí1, Svatava Kubesová1, Zdenka Lososová1,2, Zdenka Otypková1 and Lubomír Tichy1

1Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlárská 2, CZ-611 37 Brno, Czech Republic; and 2Department of Biology, Masaryk University, Porící 7, CZ-603 00 Brno, Czech Republic

Correspondence: M. Horsák; e-mail: horsak{at}sci.muni.cz


  Abstract

A malacological study at 41 forest sites in the Southern Urals (Bashkortostan, Russia) conducted in 2007 gave the first quantitative data about land snail assemblages from this region. These data were used to identify the main patterns and predictors of snail species richness and composition, to assess the relations of snail assemblages to vegetation using detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and to explore the hypothesis that forests of this area are modern analogues of the Early Holocene forests of Central Europe. In total, we recorded 29 snail species. Species richness per site was very low (0–14 species) although environmental conditions at many sites were generally favourable for snails (high calcium supply, abundant moisture and undisturbed character). Variation in species richness and composition was almost exclusively governed by local environment factors, rather than differences in location. The main gradient of vegetation composition (expressed as site scores on the first DCA axis), calcium and nitrogen content in herb biomass, and altitude were identified as the best correlates of species richness and compositional variation in snail assemblages. Snail species significantly accumulated towards more fertile, calcium-rich and lowland sites; the richest faunas were in alluvial alder forests and mesic lime–maple–elm forests. Several features such as low snail species richness, predominance of generalist species with wide distributions, and broader realized niches of particular species in the Southern Ural forests relative to their niches elsewhere, corresponded to those of fossil assemblages from the Early Holocene deposits of Central Europe. This supports the hypothesis that the Southern Urals snail faunas provide good analogues for those of Early Holocene assemblages of Central Europe. Our data also suggest that the very limited species pool, mostly of widely distributed species with good dispersal abilities, results in species-poor assemblages that are structured mainly by environmental filtering.

(Received 10 March 2009; accepted 12 May 2009)


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.