The Shell Game

Denizens of the Forest Floor Forests are complex ecosystems and each one is composed of thousands of lifeforms.  One of the most intricate and diverse locations in a forest is its floor. On the floor many plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms toil around the clock: eating, reproducing, growing, moving, being eaten and decomposing.  Many of the forest's ecological pathways involve what is happening at this level, including most nutrient cycles relied upon by every member of the forest community, for example, the carbon cycle.

Mollusks are a diverse group (phylum) of animals that include clams, mussels, squids, octopods, snails and slugs.  These animals inhabit most of the earth's major environments from oceans and tropical islands to mountains, wetlands, rivers and lakes. Forest mollusks are snails and slugs; the later simply being a shelless snail. Although snails do climb trees and rocks, especially in humid habitats, most are found at the interface between soil and plants. Snails are in the mollusk class Gastropoda, which literally means "stomach-foot."  Many people are familiar with snails as small slime-trail animals inhabiting both land and water, but few recognize their diverstiy and function.

Pictured today is one of those residents of the forest floor known as the white-lip globe snail  (Mesodon thyroidus)  of the family Polygyridae. Dr. Timothy Pearce is a malacologist (mollusk scientist) and land snail expert at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pa. He identified the snail in this photograph and also noted that this not uncommon species typically feeds upon fungi, such as the mushroom being consumed in this picture. Dr. Pearce estimates that there are more than 120 species of land snails in Pennsylvania, some of which are as small as 2-3 milimeters (less than 1/8 inch) in shell length as adults. He is involved in documenting as many species as possible and their distributions. Such information will allow us to refine our knowledge and understanding of forests in all of their wonder and complexities.

Today's photograph was provided by WPC volunteer and land steward C. Mark Bowers.

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