As co-chair of the systematics committee of the American Malacological Society (Ken Hayes is the other co-chair), I'd like to take this moment to share a link on a new book, which has just been released entitled "Freshwater Mollusks of the World - A Distribution Atlas" edited by myself and Kevin S. Cummings and including contributing authors from around the world. For more information about the book and list of contributing authors, please go to:
https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/freshwater-mollusks-world
Although the publisher states it won't be shipped until April, it is now being shipped.
Molluscan Musings
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Dear Readers:
World Congress of Malacology 2019 - Pacific Grove, California
The
2019 World Congress of Malacology will be held at the Asilomar Conference
Grounds in Pacific Grove, California, 11-16 August, 2019. This “Refuge by the
Sea” is ideally situated on the shores of beautiful Monterey Peninsula of
California’s central coast, and boasts 107 acres of forests, dunes and beaches.
Monterey Bay Aquarium and historic Cannery Row, as well as the scenic Big Sur
Coastline, are short drives away. The meeting will be jointly sponsored by
UNITAS Malacologica, the American Malacological Society (AMS) and the Western
Society of Malacologists (WSM).
The
congress will last five days, with four days of talks and one day mid-week
scheduled for field trips. Participants have several travel options: Monterey
Regional Airport, serviced by a number of regional airlines, is 8 miles from
Asilomar and a short cab ride away. Mineta San Jose International is 80 miles
to the north and San Francisco International Airport is 110 miles to the north;
the Monterey Airbus departs SFO and SJC almost hourly and takes
passengers directly to Asilomar. Congress attendees are strongly
encouraged to stay at Asilomar. Lodging costs include all meals, including the
banquet. The cost for staying onsite can be reduced by sharing rooms, and
residence options include single, double, triple, and quadruple rooms. An
upcharge in registration fees will be applied to anyone staying offsite in
order to offset charges incurred by meeting attendees that are not included in
the residence package. Given the concurrent “Little Car Show” and “Rotary
Concours Auto Rally” in Pacific Grove that week, alternative sources of
accommodation are expected to be expensive and in short supply. Participants
are encouraged to book soon to reserve their spot at Asilomar before our excess
rooms are released.
Abstract submission, registration and housing
reservations are now open. Please see https://www.calacademy.org/world-congress-of-malacology-2019.
Additional details on the scientific program and field trip options will be
coming soon. Early registration ends April 15!
Thursday, February 8, 2018
2018 Annual AMS-WSM meeting in Hawaii!
The 84th Annual American Malacological Society (AMS) and 51st Western Society of Malacologists (WSM) meetings will be co-hosted in Honolulu, Hawaii this year from June 19th-23rd, 2018. The meeting will be held at the beautiful Hilton Waikiki Beach Hotel and begin with a reception at the Waikiki Aquarium and end with a banquet at the Bishop Museum. Please do your best to attend this years meeting and take part in all things malacological including an opportunity to explore Hawaii. Get all the details of the meeting at the following link: https://ams.wildapricot.org/
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Invasion of Arion subfuscus/fuscus complex
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.
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