Millimeter-sized smart sensors reveal that a solar refuge protects tree snail Partula hyalina from extirpation

• Published in: Communications biology Vol. 4; no. 1; p. 744
• Main Authors: Bick, Cindy S., Lee, Inhee, Coote, Trevor, Haponski, Amanda E., Blaauw, David, Foighil, Diarmaid Ó
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 15-06-2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/158; 631/158/672; 631/158/856; Albedo; Biological control; Biology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Coloration; Conservation; Control programs; Gastropoda; Hypotheses; Invertebrates; Life Sciences; Mollusks; Partula; Refugia; Sensors; Solar radiation; Survival; Tahiti
• ISSN: 2399-3642; 2399-3642
• DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02124-y

Pacific Island land snails are highly endangered due in part to misguided biological control programs employing the alien predator
Euglandina rosea
. Its victims include the fabled Society Island partulid tree snail fauna, but a few members have avoided extirpation in the wild, including the distinctly white-shelled
Partula hyalina
. High albedo shell coloration can facilitate land snail survival in open, sunlit environments and we hypothesized that
P. hyalina
has a solar refuge from the predator. We developed a 2.2 × 4.8 × 2.4 mm smart solar sensor to test this hypothesis and found that extant
P. hyalina
populations on Tahiti are restricted to forest edge habitats, where they are routinely exposed to significantly higher solar radiation levels than those endured by the predator. Long-term survival of this species on Tahiti may require proactive conservation of its forest edge solar refugia and our study demonstrates the utility of miniaturized smart sensors in invertebrate ecology and conservation.
Bick et al. describe a novel way of testing their hypothesis that an invasive predatory snail fails to drive to extinction a native, threatened non-predatory snail because both have different tolerance ranges for exposure to sunlight. They test it by developing a miniature light sensor, small enough to be carried by these snails on their shells.