Érik L’Heureux
Department of Biological Sciences
 | |
| Arion fuscus, Johnville Bog & Forest Park, Johnville, Quebec, Canada, 2017 |
Université de Montréal, Québec,
Canada
Constance
Boone Award at the American Malacological Society
I
had the opportunity to participate and present my research at the 83rd meeting
of the American Malacological Society. During this conference, I learned a lot
about several new topics and met a lot of passionate people. This congress was rich
in exchanges of knowledge. I greatly appreciated my experience and hope to have
the chance to come back year after year.
I
study a group of terrestrial slug species called the Arion subfuscus/fuscus complex. These European slugs are now very
common in northeastern North America. During my master's degree, I collected specimens
throughout southern Québec (Canada). Of course, I was fortunate to have help
from many people who also collected specimens for my project. I have identified
molecularly more than 750 individuals [1]. Comparing the present distribution
of this complex in Québec with the distribution as determined in the 1960s by
Chichester and Getz [2], I found that it has had an incredible expansion of
distribution over the last 50 years. Thanks to the molecular identification of
the haplotypes, it was possible to determine that the slugs of the complex
dispersed mainly passively on a large scale. Although A. fuscus and A. subfuscus
were detected, A. fuscus is by far
the most common species in Québec, which is surprising, as previous studies did
not report this species in the northeast of the United States [3]. My
hypothesis is that the border could restrict the passive dispersion of slugs
via human activities, which I would like to investigate in the coming years by
sampling in the northern United States.
For
my Ph.D. project, preliminary results indicate that A. fuscus is extremely generalist in its choice of habitats. The
next step of the project will be to assess the determinants of the invasion
success of A. fuscus in North
America. I will try to elucidate the strategies used by this species to occupy
several types of habitats. To achieve this objective, I plan to use genetic and
transcriptomic techniques to estimate genetic diversity and to assess the
environment-dependent gene expression. Finally, I will measure environment-dependent
morphological variations. Thanks to these multiple approaches, I will try to
determine the role of plasticity or tolerance in this invasive exotic species
and, of course, I would like to present my results next year at the meeting!
This project will allow to understand how exotic species with very limited
genetic diversity can manage to invade many habitats.
References
[1] L’Heureux, É., and Angers, B.
in press. A discreet invasion: distribution, origins, and expansion of the
European slug complex Arion subfuscus s.
l. in Québec. Canadian Journal of Zoology.
[2] Chichester, L.F., and Getz,
L.L. 1969. The zoogeography and ecology of arionid and limacid slugs introduced
into northeastern North America. Malacologia.
7: 313-346.
[3] Pinceel, J., Jordaens, K., Van
Houtte, N., Bernon, G., and Backeljau, T. 2005. Population genetics and
identity of an introduced terrestrial slug: Arion
subfuscus s.l. in the north-east USA (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Arionidae). Genetica. 125: 155-171.
