Short-term climate change and the extinction of the snail Rhachistia aldabrae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata).
The only known population of the Aldabra banded snail Rhachistia aldabrae declined through the late twentieth century, leading to its extinction in the late 1990s. This occurred within a stable habitat and its extinction is attributable to decreasing rainfall on Aldabra atoll, associated with regional changes in rainfall patterns in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. It is proposed that the extinction of this species is a direct result of decreasing rainfall leading to increased mortality of juvenile snails.
Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles, 133 Cherry Hinton Road, Cambridge CB1 7BX, UK. jstgerlach@aol.com
Justin
J
Gerlach
D000818:Animals; D002980:Climate; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D011336:Probability; D011891:Rain; D012908:Snails