Trail detection and ecological niche modeling in terrestrial gastropods

My dissertation focused on trail detection and ecological niche modeling in terrestrial gastropods. The goals of my dissertation were to understand how snails move their tentacles in a sensory context and how often snails can detect and follow mucus trails of other snails. I was also interested in quantifying the conservation status of land snails using both ecological niche modeling and surveys of native molluscan fauna in Kansas.; Trail following is a common behavior across gastropods but they mechanisms used by the snails to follow the trail and how directionality is encoded within the trail are not well understood. I studied trail following in two species of terrestrial snails, Mesodon thyroidus and Euglandina rosea. Mesodon thyroidus is a local Kansas snail and was shown to be able to detect and follow conspecific trails even in the presence of additional potentially confusing trails. Mesodon thyroidus was able to follow trails on horizontal, 45°, and vertical surfaces. Euglandina rosea is a carnivorous snail native to the southeastern United States that was introduced to many oceanic islands in a failed attempt to control the giant African land snail, Achatina fulica, an agricultural pest. Euglandina rosea was tested against both local and non-local prey species to see if trail following ability differed by experience with the prey. There was not a difference in following ability based on the prey's geographic area and E. rosea was able to follow all prey trails in the direction in which they were laid.; Ecological niche modeling was used to assess the potential spread of the predator E. rosea and the agricultural pest A. fulica to areas where they currently do not occur. This type of modeling had never been conducted on gastropods previously and was able to predict the distribution of these species. In addition, a continuation of the surveys of gastropods at the Fitch Natural History Reservation and a new survey of Welda Prairie were conducted to assess the conservation status of the gastropods in Kansas.