Notes on the activity of the Roman snail (Helix Pomatia L.)
Jerzy Błoszyk2016, Folia Malacologica
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A study of Roman snail (Helix pomatia L.) populations in Wrocław shows that even in the active season and under favourable conditions the proportion of snails active or resting on the surface rather than buried in the soil is usually much less than 50%. This confirms earlier studies on this and other species. Variation in the proportion found on the surface was not related to weather conditions at the time, nor were troughs and peaks correlated among sites.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systems or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission of CTA. CTA encourages the non-commercial use of the material in this publication. Proper citation is requested. The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) was established in 1983 under the Lomé Convention between the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) Group of States and the European Union Member States. Since 2000, it has operated within the framework of the ACP-EC Cotonou Agreement. CTA's tasks are to develop and provide services that improve access to information for agricultural and rural development, and to strengthen the capacity of ACP countries to produce, acquire, exchange and utilise information in this area. CTA's programmes are designed to: provide a wide range of information products and services and enhance awareness of relevant information sources; promote the integrated use of appropriate communication channels and intensify contacts and information exchange (particularly intra-ACP); and develop ACP capacity to generate and manage agricultural information and to formulate ICM strategies, including those relevant to science and technology. CTA's work incorporates new developments in methodologies and cross-cutting issues such as gender and social capital. CTA,
Folia Malacol. 24(2): 103–106
http://dx.doi.org/10.12657/folmal.024.010
NOTES ON THE ACTIVITY OF THE ROMAN SNAIL
(HELIX POMATIA L.)
Jerzy Błoszyk1,2, Justyna kacprowicz1, zofia książkiewicz-parulska1*
Department of General Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Umultowska
89, 61-614 Poznań, Poland
2
Natural History Collections, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Umultowska 89,
61-614 Poznań, Poland
*corresponding author: [email protected]
1
aBstract: A study of Roman snail (Helix pomatia L.) populations in Wrocław shows that even in the active
season and under favourable conditions the proportion of snails active or resting on the surface rather than
buried in the soil is usually much less than 50%. This confirms earlier studies on this and other species.
Variation in the proportion found on the surface was not related to weather conditions at the time, nor were
troughs and peaks correlated among sites.
key words: Helix pomatia, local populations, activity, weather conditions
The Roman snail (Helix pomatia L.) is a common
inhabitant of large urban agglomerations where it
occurs in various synanthropic habitats, e.g. garden squares, parks and cemeteries (urBański 1964,
stępczak 1976, Błoszyk et al. 2010, 2012). In
Poland the species is active from April to September
and breeds intensively in May and June (stępczak
et al. 1983, tworek & zaJąc 2012). Activity is dependent both on external conditions and on the internal state of the snail.
wells (1944) described 3–5 day cycles of activity under laboratory conditions favourable to activity.
Błoszyk et al. (2015) showed that even in the period
of the highest activity, in favourable weather conditions (i.e. after rain, when temperature ranged from
11°C to 19°C, stępczak et al. 1983), about 80% of a
Roman snail population was inactive and remained
buried in the ground.
The aim of this study was to investigate further
what proportion of the population remains above
ground under good conditions for activity whether
actively crawling or not. The research was conducted
in Wrocław (SW Poland) – the fourth largest city of
Poland that is located in the Odra River Valley. Nine
sites (Fig. 1, Table 1), varying in size, were chosen,
within which Helix pomatia (both adults and juveniles)
above ground were searched for and counted. Searches
were carried out at weekly intervals for a total of 13
occasions between 4 April and 27 June 2014. Each
search, covering the whole area, took between 15 and
40 minutes, varying with the size of the area, and was
carried out between 07.30 and 09.00. In each search
we counted all individuals above ground. Each snail
was individually numbered on the shell with waterproof marker on the occasion when it was first found.
Thus on each occasion (Table 2) we had records of
snails seen for the first time (unmarked) and those
that had been seen previously (marked) at each site.
In sites 1 to 4, no unmarked snails were found on
the last few sampling occasions. The total number of
marked snails thus represents a minimum estimate
of the number of snails present. In the remainder
(sites 5 to 9) unmarked snails were still being found
even on the last occasion. The total number of snails
found is therefore certainly an underestimate of the
actual population size, assuming that there were no
snails leaving or entering the site and that there was
no mortality or recruitment into the category of snails
large enough to be marked. No dead and marked
shells were found and movement in and out of the
Jerzy Błoszyk, Justyna Kacprowicz, Zofia Książkiewicz-Parulska
104
Fig. 1. Studied sites (1–9) in the city of Wrocław
sites is likely to be small (pollard 1974, Błoszyk et
al. 2015). Table 2 also shows estimates of the population sizes at these sites using the Petersen-Lincoln
index (southwood & henderson 2000), based on
data for the last sampling occasion. These estimates
are based on small numbers, and their standard
errors will be large, but they demonstrate that the
populations may have been substantially larger than
indicated by the total number of snails found.
Table 2 shows the proportion of snails found
above ground relative to the minimum estimated
population size at each site (the number of snails
found overall) on each occasion, assuming no losses
or gains during the period of study. This proportion
varied from 3.8 to 83.3%; the mean proportion for
each site varied between 13 and 28%. The 83.3% recorded on occasion 5 at site 1 is much greater than at
any other site or occasion (the next greatest is 45.8%
at site 2). Site 1, allotment gardens, may have been
watered through periods of dry weather, enabling
snails to stay on the surface in dry periods.
Variation in the proportion of snails above ground
on each occasion shows no correlation among sites,
and does not appear to relate to the weather on each
occasion (Fig. 2). We note that these proportions are
maxima, since our estimates of population size are
likely to be too low, especially in sites 5 to 9. We suspect that the variation in these proportions relates
to the microclimate and soil conditions of each site;
sites 8 and 9 were particularly exposed and the proportions are low. Błoszyk et al. (2015) have shown
that even in good weather conditions it is unusual to
find more than 30% of the population above ground.
The study of williamson et al. (1977) on Cepaea
nemoralis also found that less than 50% of snails in
the population were found active on the surface even
in conditions suitable for activity. This study confirms these findings; it must be unusual to find more
Table 1. Brief description of the studied sites (1–9) – type of habitat, area and geographical coordinates
Site
No.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Area
[m2]
Allotments
135
Scrubs
250
Rubbish dump
366
Cemetery
1273
Deciduous forest
276
Wasteland
174
Abandoned allotments
496
Meadow
5463
Railway embankment
347
Type of habitat
Geographical coordinates
N
E
open area, adjacent to patch with vegetables
51°09'01,06" 17°06'31,16"
partially shaded area, scrubs near a road
51°09'10.80" 17°06'53.56"
area partially shaded by scrubs and trees
51°09'10.19" 17°06'14.89"
area shaded by trees
51°08'39.51" 17°06'55.90"
fragment of the forest in the vicinity of a road
51°10'09.81" 17°07'47.29"
area shaded by threes, near houses
51°08'49.52" 17°07'50.16"
area partially shaded by scrubs, in the vicinity of a road 51°08'58.73" 17°06'48.53"
open area near a gravel road
51°08'18.09" 17°06'22.59"
open area in a direct vicinity of a railway embankment 51°08'53.00" 17°06'27.08"
Short description
105
Activity of the Roman snail
Table 2. Details of the numbers of marked and unmarked snails found at each site on each occasion and the proportion
these represent of the whole population. The right hand column gives the total number of snails marked over the
period and, in brackets, the estimates of population size given by the Petersen-Lincoln index for those sites were still
yielding unmarked snails. The third entry in each cell gives the mean proportion of snails found on the surface over
all occasions for each site
Site
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Individuals
new
recaptured
total
% observed
new
recaptured
total
% observed
new
recaptured
total
% observed
new
recaptured
total
% observed
new
recaptured
total
% observed
new
recaptured
total
% observed
new
recaptured
total
% observed
new
recaptured
total
% observed
new
recaptured
total
% observed
1
6
0
6
12.5
6
0
6
10.2
12
0
12
18.8
7
0
7
30.4
3
0
3
8.8
13
0
13
18.3
9
0
9
8.6
12
0
12
15.8
21
0
21
28.4
2
5
1
6
12.5
11
2
13
22
10
2
12
18.8
3
1
4
17.4
4
0
4
11.8
2
3
5
7.1
9
1
10
9.5
9
2
11
14.5
7
3
10
13.5
3
1
3
4
8.3
7
5
12
20.3
3
7
10
15.6
2
1
3
13
5
2
7
20.6
7
3
10
14.1
9
4
13
12.4
5
3
8
10.5
3
4
7
9.5
4
17
5
22
45.8
0
5
5
8.5
18
9
27
42.2
4
3
7
30.4
7
2
9
26.5
1
6
7
9.9
20
6
26
24.8
5
4
9
11.8
0
4
4
5.4
5
14
26
40
83.3
17
8
25
42.4
9
15
24
37.5
0
4
4
17.4
2
6
8
23.5
4
7
11
15.5
18
5
23
21.9
3
5
8
10.5
4
3
7
9.5
6
5
14
19
39.6
12
15
27
45.8
0
19
19
29.7
5
2
7
30.4
0
3
3
8.8
0
9
9
12.7
3
10
13
12.4
4
5
9
11.8
7
7
14
18.9
than half of any population active at the same time.
On the numbers involved we are unable to determine
if there are differences in this respect between adults
and juveniles. This could be a focus of further study,
as there is evidence that adults and juveniles behave
differently (pollard 1974).
Fig. 2. Mean temperature (temp) and sum of precipitation
(prec) for particular occasions (1–13), during the study
period 4 April – 27 June in the city of Wrocław (source:
http://www.tutiempo.net)
Occasion
7
8
0
0
12
10
12
10
25
16.7
1
1
10
11
11
12
18.6 20.3
0
8
8
18
8
26
12.5 40.6
0
0
5
1
5
1
21.7 4.3
0
5
5
0
5
5
14.7 14.7
11
4
8
0
19
4
26.8 5.6
3
4
8
11
11
15
10.5 14.3
5
3
7
7
12
10
15.8 13.2
1
3
5
3
6
6
8.1
8.1
9
0
14
14
29.2
3
14
17
28.8
4
22
26
40.6
1
5
6
26.1
3
4
7
20.6
14
8
22
31
6
10
16
15.2
4
5
9
11.8
4
4
8
10.8
10
0
16
16
33.3
1
10
11
18.7
0
21
21
32.8
1
4
5
21.7
0
2
2
5.9
3
15
18
25.4
7
8
15
14.3
6
6
12
15.8
2
5
7
9.5
11
0
17
17
35.4
0
6
6
10.2
0
23
23
35.9
0
2
2
8.7
0
3
3
8.8
4
13
17
23.9
7
10
17
16.2
5
8
13
17.1
6
6
12
16.2
12
0
7
7
14.6
0
9
9
15.3
0
13
13
20.3
0
2
2
8.7
4
3
7
20.6
2
21
23
32.4
6
10
16
15.2
5
8
13
17.1
8
3
11
14.9
Total
13
0
48
5
5
10.4 28.2
0
59
11
11
18.6 21.5
0
64
7
7
10.9 27.4
0
23
2
2
8.7 18.4
1
34
4
(41)
5
14.7 15.4
6
71
15
(91)
21
29.6 19.4
4
105
10 (154)
14
13.3 14.5
10
76
7
(112)
17
22.4 14.5
8
74
4
(198)
12
16.2
13
106
Jerzy Błoszyk, Justyna Kacprowicz, Zofia Książkiewicz-Parulska
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
useful comments that greatly improved the manuscript.
The authors would like to thank the anonymous
referees, especially one of them for constructive and
REFERENCES
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Received: June 14th, 2015
Revised: October 4th, December 3rd, 2015;
February 5th & 19th, 2016
Accepted: February 23rd, 2016
Published on-line: May 27th, 2016
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