PREDATION ON JUVENILE LAGOONAL MUD SNAILS (HYDROBIA NEGLECTA)

摘要

Lagoonal mud snails have been shown to suffer approximately 50/100 mortality between hatching and adulthood. Experiments were conducted in the laboratory to assess the role of predators on the survival of juvenile Hydrobia neglecta (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Adult snails were collected from a lagoon in the Reedland Marshes system at Dunwich, Suffolk, and their eggs hatched in the laboratory, providing a population of juvenile snails which could be presented as a food source. The vessels, kept at environmental regimes close to that of the natural environment, were seeded with juvenile snails at field density. Predator preference was established by exposing the juvenile snails to combinations of potential predators found in the lagoon.