A State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry professor is helping the United States protect endangered snails in Palau, a chain of islands that are part of Micronesia.

Rebecca Rundell, an assistant professor in the department of environmental and forest biology, has been traveling to the Palau Islands to analyze shrinking snail populations.

“So much of Palau remains to be explored that we are still in the process of finding new species,” she said in an email.

On Palau, there are 117 species of snail alone and 95 percent of these species can’t be found anywhere else on Earth, said David Bullis, a graduate student in ecology who works for Rundell.

Biologists are still discovering information about these snails, so they are not sure exactly how many are endangered, he said. However, Bullis added that it is estimated that most snail species are endangered or critically endangered.

Ten years ago, it was assumed that there were about 60 species of snail, Rundell said.

She said that about half of the species are endangered, but the biologists can only include already identified species in formal species assessments. While biologists are still finding new species, some are going extinct, she added.

“If a habitat is cleared or is changed by encroachment of non-native plants, if microclimate changes even subtlety, generally snails end up dying,” she said.

She said that, contrary to popular belief, when conditions change snails don’t move to neighboring forests, but are wiped out.

“When you are talking about species that live on tiny islands like Palau, these are the species with very small geographic ranges to begin with,” she said, “So, when you clear an area, you could be destroying most of the species.”

Rundell has studied a group of diverse, non-endangered snails, said Brenden Holland, an associate researcher for the Center for Conservation Research & Training.

The U.S. has its own endangered species list, but the group Rundell works with is not on it because none of the snail species of Palau are listed on it, he said. However, he added, there are international definitions of the word endangered.

These species are found on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. The inventory includes species that may be in need of conservation.

Holland said these snails are distributed across the Atlantic Ocean, in Guam, Palau, Micronesia, Fiji, Samoa and French Polynesia.

“The issue with them intensified when the West opened up the Pacific to European colonization,” he said.

People brought invasive species like rats, pigs and mongooses into the islands, which killed native populations, he added.

Palau is a forward-thinking Micronesian country, Holland said, adding that the country is dedicated to conservation and ecotourism. They encourage tourists to come and go diving to see native fish and plants, he said.

Rundell said that the Palauan government is very receptive to conservation efforts and she considers herself a partner with them in these efforts.

“I give them as much information as I can so that they may make informed decisions,” she said.

She informs them in a variety of ways, including working with non-profit organizations such as the Palau Conservation Society and with government offices such as the Republic of Palau Bureau of Agriculture.

Rundell also thinks that educating the children in Palau is very important, adding that when she visits Palau, she runs programs with students on why the forest and the snails are important.

Said Rundell: “Just like here in the U.S., kids can start to grow up increasingly disconnected from the forest, and just looking for things that are more modern or better.”

Published on March 31, 2014 at 1:34 am