Notes on the activity of the Roman snail (Helix Pomatia L.)

Folia Malacologica, 2015

The Roman snail (Helix pomatia L.) has been exploited for food to the point where it has been subject to legal restrictions on its collection, and steps have been taken to monitor its distribution and abundance. There are, however, few cases where monitoring has involved the precise re-examination of accurately located populations, and these have confirmed persistence over periods of up to six years. Using a standard methodology, ten populations of H. pomatia near the town of Września (central Poland) first surveyed in 1999 were re-sampled in 2014. In all cases the snail populations had persisted, and the habitats had not altered significantly. These results indicate that in the absence of over-exploitation or habitat change populations of this species persist.

Folia Malacologica, 2010

Populations of Helix pomatia L. in Poland have been commercially exploited since 1951; the snails are mostly exported. The growing interest in the Roman snail on the European market has resulted in its increased exploitation, in some areas leading to a considerable decrease in its abundance. Introducing export quota in 1964 did not prevent overexploitation. Precise assessment of abundance and distribution of the Roman snail populations in areas where it is exploited is necessary. In 2009 the team from the Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznañ, conducted a preliminary assessment and mapping of the abundance and distribution of the Roman snail populations in Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodeship. Most populations showed a low density. From scientific point of view the most reasonable solution would be to suspend exploitation in 2010 and continue monitoring, while decisions to issue permits for limited exploitation should be postponed till 2011. It would enable a more detailed estimation of the non-exploited populations and an assessment of losses resulting from exploitation of controlled reference populations. In this way acceptable limits of annual commercial collecting could be set for particular parts of the voivodeship.

In northern Mazovia Helix pomatia L. is rare and found only in some anthropogenic habitats; in the 55 sites studied its frequency was 9%. Neither abundance nor biomass and size structure of its populations departed from those reported from other regions of Poland. Its rarity, the scattered localities and its absence even in apparently optimum natural habitats confirm the earlier view that it is an introduced species in the region. Comparison with the earlier data indicates no expansion tendency within the last 35-40 years. The estimated area occupied by the species in the whole Mazovan voivodeship does not exceed 50 km 2 . These single populations, even when dense, may be threatened because of their isolated character; they should not be exploited and deserve protection.

Malacologia, 2016

European Journal of Biological Research, 2019

Study on the distribution of the Roman snail in the Śleza Massif was carried out in 2016. The species was recorded at the foot of the Śleza and Radunia Mountains, on their slopes (to the 300 m a.s.l.) and at the top of the Śleza Mountain. The slopes of the Śleza and Radunia Mountains are covered with spruce and beech forests without undergrowth which is unfavorable for this snail. Therefore, we suspect that the population of the species on the top of the Śleza Mountain is an isolated and the oldest population of Helix pomatia recorded in Poland. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2586109

Annals of Animal Science, 2014

Results of ReseaRch on the active species pRotection of the Roman snail (Helix pomatia, linnaeus, 1758) using faRmed snails in the second yeaR of life. fiRst season of the study* * abstract the effect of three forms of active species protection in the Roman snail were studied. on the "source plot" the natural population was supported by introducing hatchlings of farmed Roman snails aged 1+, bred from adult specimens of this population. these hatchlings (age 1+) from "source plot" population were also introduced to the following two natural plots: to the "empty plot", where the population was formed by introduction of farmed Roman snails in the second year of life (1+) into a selected area which had been emptied of the natural population; to the "inhabited plot", where farmed Roman snails aged 1+, originating from breeding snails of the foreign population from a "source plot", were introduced to the local natural population. it was established that introducing Roman snails aged 1+ and bred under farm conditions has a clearly positive influence on the age structure of the natural population in the studied plots. the rate of growth of these snails adjusted to the rate of growth of the specimens in the same age group belonging to the natural population. the farmed Roman snails grew most rapidly in the "empty plot" sown with fodder vegetation, more slowly in the "source plot" with access to appropriate herbaceous vegetation, and most slowly in the "inhabited plot". the attempt to create a naturalized population in a specially adapted "empty plot" without the natural population was successful. this was determined not only by a large number of hiding places from calcareous stones available to the Roman snails but above all by the species structure of the herb flora, which met their nutritional requirements as it contained high proportions of plants such as Brassica rapa × Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis, white clover (trifolium repens), red clover (trifolium pratense) and the hybrid of lucerne (medicago × varia martyn).

2014

Roman snail reproductive behavior was monitored in the natural environment from mating till oviposition. The correlational modeling among snail size, time between these two moments, number of dug nests, and clutch size revealed strong relationships only between the former and the latter features. However, we suggested that this relationship biologic significance must be assessed in connection with other factors such as local climate or substratum physico-chemical properties than limited to these two factors. We found that Roman snails can sometimes migrate on larger distances to lay their eggs than was previously reported. These findings are discussed using the data presented in the malacogical literature as guiding marks.

In the archaeological sites of the Iberian Peninsula (SW) small dumps of land snail dumps are frequently found. The biometric and the observations have provided us a mathematical model to ascertain the origin of deposits of land snails in archaeological sites.

Ekológia (Bratislava), 2018

In last decades, the number of non-native land snails increased up to 15 percentages; they create more than eight percent of all the Slovakian species. Trend of newly established snail species corresponds with increases in the average temperatures as well as the intensity of foreign trade, suggesting a synergistic effect of both climatic conditions and socioeconomic factors. The research of the open-air garden centres in Slovakia confirmed both factors. We report here some of the newly established populations of sixteen mollusc species. In the old garden centres, the number of species as well as the number of individuals decreased slightly. Area of the garden centre has a very high impact on both abundance and species diversity. The size and age of garden centre proportionally influences the composition of mollusc assemblages. Two new species Cornu aspersum and Cepaea nemoralis were noticed for the first time in Slovakia. The recent findings of the introduced populations demonstrate...