Relevance of body size and shell colouration for thermal absorption and heat loss in white garden snails, Theba pisana (Helicidae), from Northern France

Knigge, Thomas; Lellis, Maddalena Angela Di; Monsinjon, Tiphaine; Köhler, Heinz‐R.

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2017.06.001

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The size of the shell plays an important role because of the simple mathematical fact that, at a given shape, the smaller an object the larger its surface-to-volume ratio. This implies that smaller snails heat up faster than larger ones, as has been experimentally shown for Theba pisana exposed to visual and infrared radiation in a field plot (Knigge, Di Lellis, Monsinjon, & Köhler, 2017). This study also demonstrated a more rapid temperature decline in smaller individuals under constant airflow.…”

Section: Morpholog Ic Al Adap Tationssupporting

confidence: 80%

Snails in the sun: Strategies of terrestrial gastropods to cope with hot and dry conditions

Schweizer

Triebskorn

Köhler

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Terrestrial gastropods do not only inhabit humid and cool environments but also habitat in which hot and dry conditions prevail. Snail species that are able to cope with such climatic conditions are thus expected to having developed multifaceted strategies and mechanisms to ensure their survival and reproduction under heat and desiccation stress. This review paper aims to provide an integrative overview of the numerous adaptation strategies terrestrial snails have evolved to persist in hot and dry environments as well as their mutual interconnections and feedbacks, but also to outline research gaps and questions that remained unanswered. We extracted relevant information from more than 140 publications in order to show how biochemical, cellular, physiological, morphological, ecological, thermodynamic, and evolutionary parameters contribute to provide an overall picture of this classical example in stress ecology. These mechanisms range from behavioral and metabolic adaptations, including estivation, to the induction of chaperones and antioxidant enzymes, mucocyte and digestive gland cell responses and the modification and frequency of morphological features, particularly shell pigmentation. In this context, thermodynamic constraints call for processes of complex adaptation at varying levels of biological organization that are mutually interwoven. We were able to assemble extensive, mostly narrowly focused information from the literature into a web of network parameters, showing that future work on this subject requires multicausal thinking to account for the complexity of relationships involved in snails' adaptation to insolation, heat, and drought.

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Section: Morpholog Ic Al Adap Tationssupporting

confidence: 80%

Snails in the sun: Strategies of terrestrial gastropods to cope with hot and dry conditions

Schweizer

Triebskorn

Köhler

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…This warming effect was most pronounced in the artificially painted individuals, but even the shell and body of the naturally pigmented morph were significantly warmer than those of nonpigmented individuals. Previous studies investigating heat stress on Theba , Cepaea , and Littoraria (Cook & Freeman, 1986; Hazel & Johnson, 1990; Heath, 1975; Jones, 1973; Knigge et al., 2017) generally compared fully banded with unbanded morphs. Our results not only confirm the findings from those studies, but also elaborate on them to include strong experimental manipulations of color that define the mechanism of the warming.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental simulation of environmental warming selects against pigmented morphs of land snails

Köhler

Capowiez

Mazzia

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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In terrestrial snails, thermal selection acts on shell coloration. However, the biological relevance of small differences in the intensity of shell pigmentation and the associated thermodynamic, physiological, and evolutionary consequences for snail diversity within the course of environmental warming are still insufficiently understood. To relate temperature‐driven internal heating, protein and membrane integrity impairment, escape behavior, place of residence selection, water loss, and mortality, we used experimentally warmed open‐top chambers and field observations with a total of >11,000 naturally or experimentally colored individuals of the highly polymorphic species Theba pisana (O.F. MÜLLER, 1774). We show that solar radiation in their natural Mediterranean habitat in Southern France poses intensifying thermal stress on increasingly pigmented snails that cannot be compensated for by behavioral responses. Individuals of all morphs acted neither jointly nor actively competed in climbing behavior, but acted similarly regardless of neighbor pigmentation intensity. Consequently, dark morphs progressively suffered from high internal temperatures, oxidative stress, and a breakdown of the chaperone system. Concomitant with increasing water loss, mortality increased with more intense pigmentation under simulated global warming conditions. In parallel with an increase in mean ambient temperature of 1.34°C over the past 30 years, the mortality rate of pigmented individuals in the field is, currently, about 50% higher than that of white morphs. A further increase of 1.12°C, as experimentally simulated in our study, would elevate this rate by another 26%. For 34 T. pisana populations from locations that are up to 2.7°C warmer than our experimental site, we show that both the frequency of pigmented morphs and overall pigmentation intensity decrease with an increase in average summer temperatures. We therefore predict a continuing strong decline in the frequency of pigmented morphs and a decrease in overall pigmentation intensity with ongoing global change in areas with strong solar radiation.

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“…This means that smaller snails heat up faster than larger ones. A faster decrease in temperature was demonstrated in smaller individuals when airflow was constant (Knigge et al, 2017). The optimal surface to volume ratio depended on the aridity of the habitat.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Anthropogenic load іs a leading factor in the morphological variability of Chondrula tridens (Gastropoda, Enidae) in the northwestern Azov Sea region

et al. 2021

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Morphometric data are widely used in biology to assess intraspecific and inter-population variability and for bioindication and environmental condition assessment. The following hypotheses have been experimentally tested in the paper: 1) the vegetation type affects the change in the shell shape of Chondrula tridens martynovi Gural-Sverlova & Gural, 2010; 2) the change in the shell shape of this species is influenced by the biotope moisture regime; 3) the shell shape changes depending on the anthropogenic load level. The material in the form of empty, fully formed Ch. tridens shells was collected in 2019 in the north-western Azov region within the basin of the Molochna River. The collection points were located in settlements and outside them and differed in vegetation, moisture regime and level of anthropogenic load. The vegetation has been expertly attributed to two alternative types: herbaceous vegetation and tree plantations. By moisture level, the locations have been assessed as xerophytic and mesoxerophytic. The anthropogenic load levels have been assessed as low, medium and high. The study revealed that the morphological characteristics of Ch. tridens demonstrate a significant component of variability, which is due to the shell size. The shell size depends on the anthropogenic impact level. Under conditions of high anthropogenic impact, the shell size increases. Mollusks from locations with low and medium anthropogenic impact levels did not differ in shell size. After extraction of the size component, morphological properties develop three main trends of variability. The mouth apparatus development of mollusks does not depend on the vegetation type, but depends on the biotope moisture level and the anthropogenic transformation level. The mollusk shell elongation was observed to have the opposite dynamics of the height parameters in relation to the width and depended on the level of anthropogenic load. Rearrangement in the mouth apparatus depended on the biotope moisture level and the anthropogenic load level. There were distinguished four clusters, the quantitative morphological features of which allowed us to identify them as morphotypes. Each location was characterized by a combination of different morphotypes, according to which the sampling points may be classified. Morphotype 1 corresponds to biotopes with low level of anthropogenic load, morphotype 4 corresponded to biotopes with high anthropogenic load. Morphotypes 2 and 3 corresponded to moderate level of anthropogenic load. Vegetation type is not an important factor in determining the morphotypic diversity of populations. Under xerophytic conditions, morphotypes 2 and 3 are more common, and under mesoxerophytic conditions, morphotypes 1 and 4 are more common. The range of molluscs in different habitats needs to be expanded in the future to clarify climatic and other patterns.

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Relevance of body size and shell colouration for thermal absorption and heat loss in white garden snails, Theba pisana (Helicidae), from Northern France

Cited by 18 publications

References 36 publications

Snails in the sun: Strategies of terrestrial gastropods to cope with hot and dry conditions

Snails in the sun: Strategies of terrestrial gastropods to cope with hot and dry conditions

Experimental simulation of environmental warming selects against pigmented morphs of land snails

Anthropogenic load іs a leading factor in the morphological variability of Chondrula tridens (Gastropoda, Enidae) in the northwestern Azov Sea region

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