Rapid decline of endemic snails in the Ogasawara Islands, Western Pacific Ocean

  • Takashi Ohbayashi
  • Isamu Okochi
  • Hiroki Sato
  • Tsuyoshi Ono
  • Satoshi Chiba
Chapter

Abstract

The distribution of Mandarina spp., endemic land snails (ground-dowelling ecotype species) of the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands (Japan), was examined from the 1980's to the present in Chichijima and Hahajima islands. In Chichijima Island, M.mandarina has been rapidly declining since the 1990's in the northeastern area of the island. On the other hand, M. chichijimana has only slightly declined since the 1990's in the southern area of the island. In Hahajima Island since the 1990's, M. polita has slightly declined in the central area while M. ponderosa has been rapidly declining, and M. aureola has shown almost no decline in the southern area of the island. These circumstances offer evidence of the expansion of land snail predators (flatworms). Moreover, Chichijima and Hahajima islands differ in the pace of their respective decline, perhaps because of a predatory flatworm, Platydemus manokwari, used previously as a biological control agent abroad for the giant African snail, Achatina fulica, which only invaded Chichijima island in the 1990's.

Reprinted from Ohbayashi T, Okochi I, Sato H, Ono T, Chiba S (2007) Applied Entomology and Zoology 42:479–485, with permission of the Japanese Society of Applied Entomology and Zoology.

Key words

Mandarina spp. land snail decline island biology Platydemus manokwari Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Masaharu Kawakatsu, Dr. Kiyonori Tomiyama of Kagoshima University, Mr. Nathaniel Savory Jr., Mr. Koji Takeuchi, and Dr. Kikuo Iwabuchi of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology for their helpful advice. We also thank Ms. Fumiko Yumura (Shibazaki), Ms. Yukari Niikawa-Seimiya, Ms. Noriko Saito-Karashima, and Ms. Nobuko Ono for their help with the field surveys. This study was partially funded by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan.

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Copyright information

© Springer 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Takashi Ohbayashi
    • 1
  • Isamu Okochi
    • 2
  • Hiroki Sato
    • 2
  • Tsuyoshi Ono
    • 1
  • Satoshi Chiba
    • 3
  1. 1.Agricultural Pest DivisionOgasawara Subtropical Branch of Tokyo Metropolitan Agricultural Experiment Station; Chichijima IslandTokyoJapan
  2. 2.Department of Forest EntomologyForestry and Forest Products Research Institute; TsukubaIbarakiJapan
  3. 3.Biological Institute Graduate School of ScienceTohoku University; SendaiMiyagiJapan

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