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The demographics of destruction: isolated populations of arboreal snails and sustained predation by rats on the island of Moloka’i 1982–2006

  • Invasive Rodents on Islands
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Abstract

Populations of Partulina redfieldi, an achatinelline tree snail studied in four isolated trees, grew 100–900% between 1983 and 1995. Beginning in 1995, populations declined by 85%, and shells of rat-killed snails accumulated beneath the trees. While rat-marked shells were always present in the study area, numbers increased significantly. Despite a rat-abatement program begun in 1995, the snails continued to disappear, which we conclude was due to continued rat migration into the study area, despite baiting, and a switch in rat-food preference toward the snails. In neighboring forest where tree canopies are more continuous, snail density is lower and rat predation is not apparent. Captive-bred snails were successfully introduced to a small unoccupied tree in the same area in 1989, and this population suffered the same fate as the natural snail populations. Since 2000, P. redfieldi populations have remained low and rat predation continues.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are deeply indebted to many colleagues, present and former students, volunteers, family members and others who have participated in the field work on Moloka’i over the last 26 years. They are far too many to mention by name, but their contribution made this study possible. Major contributions were made by Dr. Stephen E. Miller, who participated in planning, field work and analyses up through the early 1990s. Barbara Shank and Anne Carwile were also important participants in the field effort for many years. Critical support for our work as well as continued access to the field site in the Kamakou Preserve was provided by The Nature Conservancy’s Moloka’i field office. We gratefully acknowledge Mr. Ed Misaki of that office for logistic support, making 4-wheel-drive vehicles available to get to the study, use of the field cabin and providing critical help when our field trips appeared to be doomed by weather or road conditions. TNC also generously provided us with their rat baiting data for use in this report. Funds to support this research have come principally from the Tree Snail Studies account at the University of Hawai’i Foundation, which relies on contributions from the senior author of this paper and many generous colleagues.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Biosciences Research Center and Department of Zoology, Edmondson Hall, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Michael G. Hadfield & Jennifer E. Saufler

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  1. Michael G. Hadfield
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  2. Jennifer E. Saufler
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Correspondence to Michael G. Hadfield.

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Hadfield, M.G., Saufler, J.E. The demographics of destruction: isolated populations of arboreal snails and sustained predation by rats on the island of Moloka’i 1982–2006. Biol Invasions 11, 1595–1609 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9409-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9409-9

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