Book Chapter
Between a rock and a dry place: land snails in arid Australia
By
Cameron Slatyer
;
Cameron Slatyer
National Heritage Assessment Section, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government. GPO Box 787, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
Winston Ponder
;
Winston Ponder
Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
Daniel Rosauer
;
Daniel Rosauer
National Heritage Assessment Section, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government. GPO Box 787, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
Lyndell Davis
Lyndell Davis
National Heritage Assessment Section, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government. GPO Box 787, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
-
Published:2007
Citation
Cameron Slatyer, Winston Ponder, Daniel Rosauer, Lyndell Davis, 2007. "Between a rock and a dry place: land snails in arid Australia", Animals of Arid Australia: Out on their own?, Chris Dickman, Daniel Lunney, Shelley Burgin
Download citation file:
The present composition of the arid-zone terrestrial mollusc fauna reflects the post Pliocene aridity with a mix of highly adapted and relictual taxa. A database of 8,200 pulmonate gastropod records derived from museum collections was compiled for continental Australia and interrogated for the purposes of examining distributional trends for inland arid and semi-arid Australia. Endemism and species richness were examined at species, genus and family level. A potentially high correlation was found between species richness, endemism and sharp topographic relief, highlighting the desert ranges - particularly the West MacDonnell and Flinders Ranges as of national significance for conservation. The implications of the use of land snail data for conservation assessment, particularly for the identification of terrestrial refugia, are discussed.
Andersen, A. N., 1995. Measuring more of biodiversity: genus richness as a surrogate for species richness in Australian ant faunas. Biological Conservation 73: 39-43
Beesley, P. L., Ross, G. J. B. and Wells, A., (eds) 1998 Mollusca: The southern synthesis. Fauna of Australia Vol 5. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne, Part A xvi 563 pp.
Cameron R. A. D., 1992. Land snail faunas of the Napier and Oscar Ranges Western Australia: Diversity, distribution and speciation. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 45: 271-286.
Colman, P. H., 1987. Blazing snail trails. Australian Natural History Summer 1986-87: 119.
Crisp, M. D., Laffan, S., Linder, H. P., and Monro, A., 2001. Endemism in the Australian flora. Journal of Biogeography 28, 183-198.
Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) 1999 ARCMAP 8.1 Redland United States of America.
Gaston, K. J. and Williams, P. H., 1993. Mapping the world's species - the higher taxon approach. Biodiversity Letters 1: 2-8.
Gaut, A. 2006. Personal Communication on current land snail survey work undertaken by the South Australian Museum in the Woomera region.
Gering, J. C., Crist, T. O. and Veech, J. A., 2003. Additive portioning of species diversity across multiple spatial scales: Implications for regional conservation of biodiversity. Conservation Biology 17: 488-499.
Graham, C. H., Ferrier, S., Huettman, F., Moritz, C. and Peterson, A. T., 2004. New developments in museum-based informatics and applications in biodiversity analysis. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19: 498-502.
Harvey, M. S., 2002. Short-range endemism among the Australian fauna: some examples from non-marine environments. Invertebrate Systematics 16: 555-570.
Hyman, I. T. and Stanisic, J., 2005. New charopid land snails chiefly from limestone outcrops in NSW (Eupulmonata: Charopidae). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 50: 219-302.
Laffan, S. W. and Crisp, M. D., 2003. Assessing endemism at multiple spatial scales, with an example from the Australian vascular flora. Journal of Biogeography, 30: 511-520.
Microsoft. 2000 Microsoft Access. Microsoft Corporation, United States of America.
McKenzie, N. L., Johnston, R. B. and Kendrick, P. G., 1991 Kimberley rainforests of Australia. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, NSW. xvi + 490 pp.
Morton, S. R., Short, J. and Barker, R. D., 1995. Refugia for Biological Diversity in Arid and Semi-arid Australia. Biodiversity Paper No. 4, Biodiversity Unit. Department of Environment, Sport and Territories. CSIRO, Canberra.
Prendergast, J. R. and Eversham, B. C., 1997. Species richness covariance in higher taxa: empirical tests of the biodiversity indicator concept. Ecography, 20: 210-216.
Ponder, W. F., 1995. The conservation of non-marine molluscs in perspective. Pp 55-67 in Biodiversity and conservation of the Mollusca, edited by A. C. Bruggen, S. M. Wells and T. C. M. Kemperman. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
Ponder, W. F., 1997. Conservation status, threats and habitat requirements of Australian terrestrial and freshwater Mollusca. Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria 56: 421-430.
Ponder, W. F., 1998. Conservation. Pp. 105-115 in Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis, Fauna of Australia, Vol 5, Part A, edited by P. L. Beesley, G. J. B. Ross and A. Wells. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
Ponder, W. F., Carter, G. A., Flemons, P. and Chapman, R. R., 2001. The evaluation of museum collection data for use in biodiversity assessment. Conservation Biology 15: 648-657.
Smith, B. J., 1992. Non-marine Mollusca. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, vol. 8., Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. Pp 1-405.
Smith B. J., Reid S. and Ponder W. F., 2002. Pulmonata. Australian Faunal Directory. Viewed 9 December 2004. http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/fauna/afd/index.html
Smith, D. M. and Stanisic, J., 1998. Pulmonata Introduction. Pp. 1037-1061 in Mollusca: the southern synthesis, Fauna of Australia, Vol 5, Part B, edited by P. L. Beesley, G. J. B. Ross and A. Wells. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
Solem, A., 1979. Camaenid land snails from western and central Australia (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Camaenidae) I. Taxa with trans-Australian distribution. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 10: 5-142.
Solem, A., 1981a. Camaenid land snails from Western and central Australia. II. Taxa from the Kimberley, Amplirhagada Iredale, 1933. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 11: 147-320.
Solem, A., 1981b. Camaenid land snails from Western and Central Australia (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Camaenidae). III. Taxa from the Ningbing Ranges and nearby areas. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 11: 321-425.
Solem, A., 1984. Camaenid land snails from Western and Central Australia (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Camaenidae). IV. Taxa from the Kimberley, Westraltrachia Iredale, 1933 and related genera. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 17: 427-705.
Solem, A., 1985. Camaenid land snails from Western and central Australia (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Camaenidae). V. Remaining Kimberley genera and addenda to the Kimberley. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 20: 707-981.
Solem, A., 1988a. New camaenid land snails from the northeast Kimberley, Western Australia. Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia 9: 27-58.
Solem, A., 1988b. Maximum in the minimum: biogeography of land snails from the Ningbing Ranges and Jeremiah Hills, north-east Kimberley, Western Australia. Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia 9: 59-113.
Solem, A., 1989. Non-camaenid land snails of the Kimberley and Northern Territory, Australia. I. Systematics, affinities and ranges. Invertebrate Taxonomy 2: 455-604.
Solem, A., 1991. Land snails of the Kimberley rainforest patches and biogeography of all Kimberley land snails. Kimberley rainforests of Australia. (ed by N. L. McKenzie, R. B. Johnston, and P. G. Kendrick), pp 145-246, Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, NSW.
Solem, A., 1992a. Camaenid land snails from southern and eastern South Australia, excluding Kangaroo Island. Pt 1. Systematics, distribution and variation. Records of the South Australian Museum, Monograph 2: 1-338.
Solem, A., 1992b. Camaenid land snails from southern and eastern Australia, excluding Kangaroo Island. Part 2. Biogeography and covariation. Records of the South Australian Museum, Monograph Series 2: 339-424.
Solem, A., 1993. Camaenid land snails from Western and central Australia (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Camaenidae). VI. Taxa from the Red Centre. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 43: 983-1459.
Solem, A., 1997 Camaenid land snails from Western and Central Australia (Mollusc: Pulmonata: Camaenidae). Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 50, 1461-1906.
Solem, A. and Christensen, C., 1984. Camaenid land snail reproductive cycle and growth patterns in semi-arid areas of north-western Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 32: 471-491.
Stanisic, J., 1990. Systematics and biogeography of eastern Australian Charopidae (Mollusca: Pulmonata) from subtropical rainforests. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 30: 1-241.
Stanisic, J., 1997a. An area of exceptional land snail diversity: the Macleay valley, northern New South Wales. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 39: 343-354.
Stanisic, J., 1997b. Land snail diversity in Queensland: An overview. Part 1. Australasian Shell News 94: 6.
Stanisic, J., 1997c. Land snail diversity in Queensland: An overview. Part 2. Australasian Shell News 95: 6.
Stanisic, J. and Ponder, W. F., 2004. Forest snails in eastern Australia - one aspect of the other 99%. Pp 127-149, in The Conservation of Australia's forest fauna (second edition) edited by D. Lunney. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman.
Stanisic, J., 2005. Personal Communication on current research with Andrew Hugall on Camaenid Snails.
Summerville, K. S., Boulware, M. J., Veech, J. A. and Crist, T. O., 2002. Spatial variation in species diversity and composition of forest Lepidoptera in eastern deciduous forests of North America. Conservation Biology 17: 1045-1057.
Williams, P. H. & Humphries, C. J., 1994. Biodiversity, taxonomic relatedness, and endemism in conservation. Systematics and conservation evaluation (eds. P. L. Forey, C. J. Humphries & R. I. Vane-Wright). Oxford University Press, Oxford.
This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access.
