From Serena/TMSI; thanks!

Title: Multiple approaches to conservation: saving Hawaiian tree snails.

Venue: Function Hall, Tanglin Core, Singapore Botanic Garden
Time: 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, 13 November 2006
Speaker: Prof. Michael G. Hadfield, Department of Zoology and the Kewalo
Marine Laboratory, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 41 Ahui Street, Honolulu,
HI 96813. E-mail: hadfield@...

Host: Biodiversity Centre, National Parks Board, Singapore

Abstract: The fauna and flora of the Hawaiian Islands have experienced some
of the highest extinction rates in the world due to habitat destruction and
the introduction of alien predators and competitors. Among the most highly
impacted animals are Hawaii's terrestrial snails. Once numbering about 800
endemic species in 11 families, around 600 snail species have vanished since
the arrival of western peoples in the late 1700s. Our studies have focused
on the tree-snail family Achatinellidae, usually referred to as the
"Hawaiian tree snails."

Around 100 single-island endemics made up the subfamily Achatinellinae, and
these are now more than 50% extinct. In addition to habitat degradation and
destruction, introduced rats and predatory snails are currently the greatest
threats to survival of remaining species. Using all the available "tools"
at hand, including field enclosures, field monitoring, laboratory
propagation, and molecular genetics, we are carrying out an intensive
conservation effort that may serve as a model for the preservation of other
terrestrial invertebrate species.

ALL ARE WELCOME!


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