Beata M. Pokryszko

Citizen Science Reveals Unexpected Continental-Scale Evolutionary Change in a Model Organism

Organisms provide some of the most sensitive indicators of climate change and evolutionary responses are becoming apparent in species with short generation times. Large datasets on genetic polymorphism that can provide an historical benchmark against which to test for recent evolutionary responses are very rare, but an exception is found in the brown-lipped banded snail (Cepaea nemoralis). This species is sensitive to its thermal environment and exhibits several polymorphisms of shell colour and banding pattern affecting shell albedo in the majority of populations within its native range in Europe. We tested for evolutionary changes in shell albedo that might have been driven by the warming of the climate in Europe over the last half century by compiling an historical dataset for 6,515 native populations of C. nemoralis and comparing this with new data on nearly 3,000 populations. The new data were sampled mainly in 2009 through the Evolution MegaLab, a citizen science project that engaged thousands of volunteers in 15 countries throughout Europe in the biggest such exercise ever undertaken. A known geographic cline in the frequency of the colour phenotype with the highest albedo (yellow) was shown to have persisted and a difference in colour frequency between woodland and more open habitats was confirmed, but there was no general increase in the frequency of yellow shells. This may have been because snails adapted to a warming climate through behavioural thermoregulation. By contrast, we detected an unexpected decrease in the frequency of Unbanded shells and an increase in the Mid-banded morph. Neither of these evolutionary changes appears to be a direct response to climate change, indicating that the influence of other selective agents, possibly related to changing predation pressure and habitat change with effects on micro-climate.

Land Snail Faunas in Polish Forests: Patterns of Richness and Composition in a Post-Glacial Landscape

ABSTRACT We examine variation in species richness, species composition and distance decay in similarity in forest snail faunas from Poland and a small part of Transcarpathian Ukraine, and their connection with geographical position in relation to Pleistocene refugia. Forest faunas were sampled from sites of standard size in each of ten regions. Data were analysed using DCA and partial CCA, extracting the geographical, climatic and ecological correlates with the major axes. Relationships among site and regional faunas were further examined through the Simpson Index of Similarity. Site species richness shows no significant variation with geographical position or climate, but relates to soil and vegetation characteristics. Composition varies with location; southern highland faunas differ from one another far more than do northern lowland faunas, showing a clear east-to-west pattern of change. The aggregate highland fauna is richer than that of the lowlands, which is a subset of the former. Two intermediate upland regions show different associations, one with the highlands the other with the lowlands. Lowland faunas, even over large distances, are very similar, and all relate more closely to the western end of the highlands than to the east. Disaggregating the fauna into large and small species shows that the former show a stronger geographical pattern than the latter; most universally distributed species are small. Latitudinal variation in regional richness, and longitudinal differentiation among highland faunas relate to distance from glacial refugia. This is not reflected in site species richness, raising questions about the assembly rules for local faunas. The western bias in the relationships of lowland faunas to those of the highlands, the differences between large and small species and the varying rates of faunal turnover within the area studied suggest that patterns of post-glacial dispersal are complex and incompletely understood.

FOREST SNAIL FAUNAS FROM S. E. QUEENSLAND AND N.E. NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA): PATTERNS OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL RICHNESS AND DIFFERENTIATION

While regional snail faunas of low-latitude regions tend to be richer than similar areas at high latitude, there seems to be little difference between site (e.g. < 400 m2) richness, which often ranges between 20 and 40 species across a wide latitudinal range. Given this seeming paradox, it is surprising how little investigation has been made into how land snail species are packed into the tropical landscape across multiple scales. This paper addresses this question by analyzing faunal lists from six regions spread across a 550 km extent in the temperate rain forests of eastern Australia. Considerable heterogeneity was observed both within similar habitat types within (ca. 40–60% faunal similarity) and between (ca. 10–50%) different regions. The Charopidae constituted the largest fraction of the fauna (up to 70% of species), and were thus responsible for most of the variation in composition. While the number of species per region (ca. 30–50) was broadly comparable to Europe and North America, the rate of faunal turnover with distance was found to be 2–30 times greater. While geographic turnover in European and North American faunas is largely driven by large species, in eastern Australia turnover was largely driven by small, litter-dwelling species that tend to be unique to each region. The comparative richness of the eastern Australian fauna is thus largely related to evolutionary processes that have caused divergence at regional scales, rather than increased niche-packing or syntopic diversity at site scales.

Late Paleozoic Continental Gastropods from Poland: Systematic, Evolutionary and Paleoecological Approach

Abstract Two taxa of the Late Carboniferous and four species of the Early Permian terrestrial snails have been found in the Late Paleozoic continental molasse sediments of the Upper Silesian-Cracow Upland (Southern Poland). Discovery of Anthracopupa ohioensis and Protodiscus priscus indicates that, besides in North America, they occurred also in the European part of the Pangea supercontinent. According to the general sedimentary facies context and the accompanying floral and faunal assemblages, the gastropods lived in swamp environments, including a topogenous fen.

Pupilloidea of Pakistan (Gastropoda: Pulmonata): Truncatellininae, Vertigininae, Gastrocoptinae, Pupillinae (In Part)

Abstract. Based on over 3,500 dry shells and alcohol-preserved specimens from 77 localities, new records of 12 species (Truncatellina callicratis (Scacchi), T. himalayana (Benson), Boysia boysii (L. Pfeiffer), Vertigo antivertigo (Draparnaud), V. pseudosubstriata Ložek, Gastrocopta avanica (Benson), G. huttoniana (Benson), G. klunzingeri (Jickeli), Pupilla muscorum (Linnaeus), P. annandalei Pilsbry, P. turcmenica (O. Boettger), P. signata (Mousson)) are given; ten species (Columella nymphaepratensis sp. nov., Truncatellina ayubiana sp. nov., T. babusarica sp. nov., Vertigo superstriata sp. nov., V nangaparbatensis sp. nov., Boysidia tamtouriana sp. nov., Pupilla khunjerabica sp. nov., P. satparanica sp. nov., P. ziaratana sp. nov., P. paraturcmenica sp. nov.) are described. Shell variation is discussed for most species; the reproductive system is described and illustrated for nine species. Northern Pakistan, with its broader altitudinal range and generally wetter environmental conditions, has the highest diversity of pupilloids belonging to the genera discussed herein. Of the 22 species discussed in this report, ten species are currently considered endemic to Pakistan, the other 12 species being known from elsewhere in the region (Asia, Europe, and the Holarctic). The pupilloid fauna displays a high degree of Palaearctic/Holarctic influence at the generic level.

CHECKLISTS, SYSTEMATICS AND THE CLECOM INITIATIVE: AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW FROM EUROPE

Davis (2004) raised important issues about the function and construction of species checklists, and, by way of examples, provided a critique of two recent lists produced in Europe: the CLECOM I list for the land and freshwater Mollusca of northern, Atlantic and central Europe (Falkner et al., 2001), and the more detailed list for France alone (Bouchet, 2002; Falkner et al., 2002). It may be noted that CLECOM I is accompanied by CLECOM sections I and II (Bank et al., 2001), which provides a supraspecific classification for a larger area, including the whole of Europe, Turkey and Macaronesia. His critique provoked two responses from the authors (Bouchet, 2006; Bank et al., 2006). In the first of these, some differences of opinion are thought to reflect the impact of real differences in the degree and character of taxonomic differentiation in regional faunas on thought and practice, while in the second the authors suggest that Davis is privileging molecular taxonomy at the expense of the use of morphological characters. The reference by Davis (2004) to the notorious “Nouvelle Ecole” of Bourguignat and his followers (Dance, 1970), in particular, is seen as provocative and unjustified. We note that a significant part of these arguments relate as much to the principles and procedures of classification as to the function and content of checklists as such. Both Davis and his respondents raise general and more specific issues; the latter are mainly concerned with details of work on particular freshwater groups. As workers mainly on terrestrial molluscs, we do not intend to enter into those debates. We believe, however, that the general issues are of significance to the malacological community, and there is a danger that arguments about such lists could become very parochial, reinforcing the rather negative image that tarnishes taxonomists generally. At the extreme, they could provide MALACOLOGIA, 2006, 49(1): 225−230

Reproduction, growth and circadian activity of the snail Bradybaena fruticum (O. F. Müller, 1774) (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Bradybaenidae) in the laboratory

Selected life cycle parameters of the snail Bradybaena fruticum were studied in the laboratory. The initial material for the laboratory culture was taken from a population in South Western Poland; the snails were kept in Petri dishes and plastic containers. The temperature, humidity and lighting conditions were maintained at a constant level (day 18°C, night 12°C, rh 80%, light:dark 12:12). Circadian activity observations were conducted outside the climatic chamber. Eggs — calcified, slightly oval, of mean dimensions 2.67x2.56 mm — were laid singly or in batches of 6–62, as a result of both biparental and uniparental reproduction. Incubation took 27–76 days and hatching was asynchronous. Hatching success was lower among eggs produced by single parents compared to eggs produced by two parents (c.a. 56 and c.a. 88%, respectively). Growth included fast (2.25 to 5 whorls) and slow (1.9–2.25 and >5 whorls) phases as well as lip formation, and took 261 to 420 days. The first eggs/batches were laid c.a. one year later, and for uniparentally reproducing snails the period was even longer. The growth of snails kept singly was faster than in those kept in groups. Juvenile snails were much more active than adults in the spring, summer and autumn but the adults were more mobile in the winter. In all seasons, juveniles were more active at night than adults.

Report: The 26th Polish Malacological Seminar. Seminar Report

S OF THE 28TH POLISH MALACOLOGICAL SEMINAR ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN THE PODHALE BASIN AS INDICATED BY MOLLUSC ASSEMBLAGES OF FLUVIAL DEPOSITS WITOLD PAWE£ ALEXANDROWICZ Katedra Analiz Œrodowiskowych, Kartografii i Geologii Gospodarczej, Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza, Kraków The last few hundred years of environmental history in the Podhale Basin witnessed human-induced transformations: development of agriculture and deforestation. As a result, open habitats expanded at the expense of shaded ones, causing changes in the composition and structure of plant and animal communities. The malacological analysis included 48 samples from 17 localities of Late Glacial fluvial deposits. The number of species per sample ranged from 3 to 21, the number of specimens – from 7 to 173; the total material comprised 2,810 specimens of 46 species (43 terrestrial snails, 1 aquatic snail, 1 bivalve). Besides, the material included vestigial slug shells referred to as Limacidae. The localities represented two main types of river valleys: wide, flat-bottomed valleys and narrow deep valleys of small rivers or gorge sections of larger rivers. The most characteristic species was Vallonia pulchella (O. F. Müll.) of high constancy (class C=5) and dominance (D=5); it was present in over 80% of the samples and constituted over 20% of the material. Also Cochlicopa lubrica (O. F. Müll.), Perforatella vicina (Rossm.), Vallonia costata (O. F. Müll.), Nesovitrea hammonis (Ström) and Limacidae reached high constancy and dominance. The TDA index indicates a considerable heterogeneity of the composition and structure of the assemblages; it made it possible to distinguish three types of assemblages. The high value of the ADI index (0.824) shows a considerable diversity of the malacofauna. Taxonomic analysis distinguished two essential types of assemblages. One includes assemblages with small proportion of shade-loving species (at most 20% of the assemblage), the other – assemblages with the frequency of open-country species not exceeding 30%. These types include seven subtypes (4 and 3, respectively). Four stages of environmental changes can be distinguished, based on the malacofauna changes: stage I – beginning of Holocene till Middle ages – no visible anthropogenic influence; stage II – 13th–15th c. (Mediaeval Climatic Optimum) – first stage of intensive settlement, deforestation, erosion and fluvial processes, increase in proportion of open-country and mesophile species; stage III – 16th–19th c. (Small Ice Age) – limited human population, smaller anthropopressure, development of forests and increased proportion of shade-loving species; stage IV – 20th c., fast development of settlement, increased anthropopressure, limited proportion of shade-loving species. The shade-loving forms prevailed only in narrow valleys which did not favour agriculture. MALACOFAUNA OF LOESS DEPOSITS OF THE LAST GLACIATION IN T£UMACZÓW IN THE K£ODZKO BASIN WITOLD PAWE£ ALEXANDROWICZ1, DARIUSZ CISZEK2, MAGDALENA GO£AS-SIARZEWSKA1 1Katedra Analiz Œrodowiskowych, Kartografii i Geologii Gospodarczej, Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza, Kraków 2Pañstwowy Instytut Geologiczny, Oddzia3 Dolnoœl1ski, Wroc3aw Loesses and loess-like deposits in SW. Poland form an array of isolated patches of different thickness. The patch in T3umaczów is located in the NW. part of the K3odzko Basin. The loesses form a vertical cliff 10 m wide and 5.5 m high. The profile is composed of three distinct layers. The material included 17 samples. The malacological analysis was supplemented with lithological studies (granulometric analysis, content of CaCO3). Eight taxa of terrestrial snails were recorded, represented by more than 5,000 specimens. The number of taxa in the samples ranged from 4 to 7, with 53–1,309 specimens. The fauna included only forms which are common in loess profiles. Four assemblages were distinguished: 1. with Trichia hispida, 2. with Pupilla, 3. with Arianta arbustorum and 4. with Succinea oblonga. The granulometric composition of the deposit and its high CaCO3 content suggest its eolic origin; the reddish colour and local presence of fragments of Permian sandstones indicate that the loess-forming process periodically included local slope erosion material. In the first period, with cold but rather wet climate, the loess accumulation was of little intensity (fauna with Trichia hispida). Upwards, the proportion of Pupilla loessica increases gradually, indicating drier and cool conditions with an increasing rate of loess accumulation. Radiocarbon dating of the samples with T. hispida places the occurrence of this assemblage between 25 and 21 thousand years BP, directly preceding the phase of intense loess deposition. The loesses above this interval contain a poor assemblage with very numerous shells of the genus Pupilla (fauna with Pupilla). The impoverishment of the fauna reflects the deteriorating conditions: cooling of the climate and intense loess deposition. Radiocarbon dating in many sites of S. Poland indicates that the Pupilla fauna occurred between 21 and 15 thousand years BP. The interval includes intercalations of Seminar Report 37

Professor Andrzej Wiktor - on his 80th birthday

This year we celebrated the eigthieth birthday of our friend, colleague, teacher and boss, Professor Andrzej Wiktor (Fig. 1). This issue of the Folia is dedicated to him. We all wish him many happy returns and further malacological success. Andrzej Hubert Wiktor was born the 4th of February 1931 in Nowa Wieœ near Rzeszów. The son of Józef and Maria neé £oœ, he was the youngest of four children. He had two brothers: Józef (1923–2000, ichthyologist, professor at Gdañsk University) and Stanis3aw (1926–2007, ship-building engineer), and a sister (Krystyna Wiktor-Jacobson, artist). His father was a landowner, and the family stayed in Nowa Wieœ almost till the end of World War II. Andrzej went to primary school in the nearby town of Czudec near Rzeszów and finished it during the war. In 1944 the family moved to Gorlice and after the war – to Sopot. This is why Andrzej started his secondary school education in Gorlice just after the war, but continued in Gorlice and Sopot, and then in Gdynia-Or3owo where he passed his school-leaving exams in 1949. In the same year he started studying biology at Poznañ University. At that time in Poznañ it was only possible to get bachelor’s degree in biology. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, thanks to his good results, Andrzej was offered one of the two positions to continue his studies in zoology at one of the two universities in Poland which then offered master’s courses (Wroc3aw and Vol. 19(4): 193–200

The 17th World Congress of Malacology

The 17th World Congress of Malacology was held from the 18th to the 24th of July 2010, in Phuket Town (Island of Phuket, Thailand). It was the first time the Congress was held in Asia, and not long before the Congress we were not sure if we would ever get there, because of the political unrest in Thailand in the spring of 2010. However, our Thai colleagues kept promising that everything would be all right, and in the end everything was more than all right. The Congress venue was the Royal Phuket City Hotel, big enough to accommodate all of us; it had lots of conference rooms as well, where all the sessions were held. In the hotel lobby, just before you entered the conference rooms, there were two Congress mascots (Figs 1, 2): two Thai endemics, very beautifully made, complete with identification labels, and very big: when you stood next to one of them, assuming you were medium height, the tentacles reached to your shoulder. The Congress fee was very reasonable, considering that it included not only the two receptions, plus very reception-like poster session, but also lunches during the sessions. Every participant was given a Congress bag, tickets for all the receptions, lunch tickets and – of course – abstract volume which, by the way, was very heavy and contributed to the weight of our luggage when we were going home. The day before the Congress sessions started (July 18th, Sunday) there was the icebreaker reception, at the Kata Beach Resort & Spa, a very nice and posh hotel on the seaside. Mind you, malacologists are a sociable lot, they hardly need to break ice, but they like receptions a lot, and this one was lots of nice booze and nice snacks. We hardly had time to recover and then, on Tuesday (20th) we had the poster session which was a reception rather than poster display: booze and lots of very special little snacks, so that very many people went foraging among the food and drink stalls instead of staying at their posters. Wednesday (21st) was (quite sensibly) a day off: people could either go to the Congress excursion, or do whatever they liked. The sessions continued on the 22nd and 23rd. The farewell dinner on the evening of the 23rd was held at the same hotel as the icebreaker (Fig. 3). The food was great, the drinks too, there was a folk group performing (Fig. 4), and the authors of the best student posters and presentations were given prizes. The official conference trip went to the Marine Biological Center, the Phuket Aquarium, and the Sea Shell Museum. The Marine Biological Center carries out numerous research and educational tasks. One of them is the breeding of rare and vulnerable species for aquaria and reintroductions. We were shown the large-scale nurseries of various species of turtles and fish (Figs 5–8), including sea-horses and sharks. Among the Phuket Aquarium creatures, the most impressive were the giant groupers (Epinephelus lanceolatus), the largest reef-dwelling fish in the world. Giant they are, reaching almost 3 m and weighing up to 600 kg. The species is listed in the IUCN Red List as vulnerable because of exploitation. Groupers that are served in restaurants typically range in weight from 20 kg to 50 kg. Just before the Congress, a grouper over 2 m long and weighing 220 kg had been caught and sold to a restaurant in Singapore. This was featured on the first pages of the newspapers. The Straits Times we were handed out on a plane to Phuket called it “a monster fish” and detailed the various prized parts of the fish, including a 3 kg eyeball, throat and lips, ordered in advance by wealthy customers. How can a species be saved whose consumption is so glamorized by popular press? The Sea Shell Museum amazed us. The exhibition features more than 2,000 species, including the only left-handed noble volute (Cymbiola nobilis) ever found, a 250 kg shell of a giant clam (Tridacna gigas), 380 million-year-old fossils, and one of the worlds rarest golden pearls. Our personal favourites were however the xenophorids, marine snails whose name loosely translated from Greek means “carrying foreigners”. As the shell grows, the animal cements Vol. 19(2): 107–116