Report Details
Pennsylvania land snails suscceptible to climate change with imperilment ranks and updated distribution maps
Climate warming that causes population shifts and extinctions might be most serious to species already confined to high elevations, especially if higher elevations are scarce in extent. Elevations in Pennsylvania span 0 to 979 m, but elevations greater than 700 m comprise only 2% of Pennsylvania’s area. I sampled from 108 localities (12 localities at each 100 m elevation interval from 100 to 900 m). Although overall numbers of snail species and abundances decreased at greater elevations, five species significantly (Helicodiscus shimeki, Mesomphix perlaevis, Neohelix albolabris, Striatura ferrea, and Striatura milium) and four species non-significantly (Mesomphix inornatus, Pallifera dorsalis, Philomycus flexuolaris, and Philomycus togatus) occurred more often at greater elevations. If populations of these snails were forced upward due to warming climate, they would be forced into smaller geographical ranges and their populations would likely decline.
WRCP
WRCP-10379
03/17/2015
| Funding Source Details | |
| Funding Source: | WRCP |
| Grant Number: | 379 |
| Amount: | $32,438.00 |
Location Information
| Investigator Details | |
| Name: | Timothy Pearce Dr |
| Street Address 1: | 4400 Forbes Ave |
| Street Address 2: | |
| City/State/Zip: | Pittsburgh PA 15213 |
| Phone: | 412-622-1916 |
| pearcet@carnegiemnh.org | |
Pearce, T.A. 2015. Pennsylvania land snails susceptible to climate change, with imperilment ranks and updated distribution maps. Final Report to the Wild Resources Conservation Program, Grant Contract WRCP-10379 (Project #441161). Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
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