The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Annotated bibliography on land snail survey methods
- under construction

Cameron, R.A.D., et al. 2003. Land snail diversity in a square kilometer of Cretan Maquis: Modest species richness, high density and local homogeneity. Journal of Molluscan Studies 69:93-99. This study did not find high levels of seasonal variability in the fauna recovered by repeated surveys and in general found marked contrast in land snail community assemblage patterns between temperate and tropical communities.

de Winter, AJ & E. Gittenberger. 1998. The land-snail fauna of a square kilometer patch of rainforest in southwestern Cameroon: high species richness, low abundance and seasonal fluctuations. Malacologia, 40:231-250.

Kuznik, E. 1997. Comparison of two methods of quantitative sampling applied in studies on land malacocenoses (Gastropoda: Pulmonata). Malakologische abunhandlungen, Staatliches Museum fur Tierkunde Dreseden, 18(25): 263-270. Efficiency of two quantitative sampling methods was estimated in a temperate forest in relation to a community of 10 land snail species. One method "surface" consists of using quadrat samples to randomly examine surface areas for land snails. A second method "volume" consists of sieving ground cover through an entomological sieve. The study found that the two survey methods did not sample similar land snail communities and as such are not comparable. The authors determine that this is due to the biology of the snail species, some snail species are preferentially near the surface and are thus caputured by the "surface" method, some are not and require "volume" techniques to determine presence. The difference in efficiency of the two methods also varies by season becoming more pronounced in late summer and fall.

Schilthuizen, M. & H.A. Rutjes. 2001. Land snail diversity in a square kilometre of tropical rainforest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 67:417-423. This study provides detailed survey methods including timed searches, litter samples, and tree-beating. The authors found 546 individual snails, of 61 species, they estimate diversity in the area to be 85 species. This study found land snail species richness is high, species abundance is low and there is considerable heterogeneity in richness and composition between study plots. This study highlights the diversity of land snails in the tropics which were previously thought to reach their peak diversity in temperate forests.

Tattersfield, P. 1996. Local patterns of land snail diversity in a Kenyan rain forest. Malacologica, 38:161-180.

Valovirta, I. 1968. Land molluscs in relation to acidity on hyperite hills in Central Finland. Ann. Zool. Fennici, Helsinki, 5:245-253.

Walden, H.W. 1978. An introductory survey on the mollusc fauna in oligotrophic oak woods in the Stenungsund area (SW Sweden), with regard to the effect of airborne deposition of sulphuric acid and heavy metals. Terrestra Kontrollunders-kningar i Stenungsund Rapport Nr. 8. Naturhistoriska Museet. Goteborg, 1-30.

Walden, H.W. 1981. Communites and diversity of land molluscs in Scandinavian woodlans. I. High diversity communities in taluses and boulder slopes in SW Sweden - Journal of Conchology. london, 30:351-372.

Wareborn, I. 1970. Environmental factors influencing the distribution of land molluscs of an oligotrophic area in southern sweden. Oikos 21: 285-291.