Land Snails of the Southern Appalachians

Image © Ron Caldwell, LMU

Punctum blandianum, a land snail of the Southern Appalachians

The Southern Appalachian region contains a rich diversity of land snails, and the collected data of the region’s snail research would help provide a more complete picture of southern Appalachian biodiversity. To that end, the Southern Appalachian Information Node (SAIN) is collaborating with Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) to make accessible a significant amount of data relating to southeastern land snails.

Research

SAIN is partnering with LMU's Cumberland Mountain Research Center (CMRC), and the Powell River Aquatic Research Station (a research station operated by the CMRC). Ron Caldwell, the director of the CMRC, and his staff are collecting land snail data in order to determine predictive correlations between snails and their ecological habitats. The CMRC collect samples from study plots, sorting through collected leaf litter, ground moss, and other ground detritus. Snails identified from this sorting are identified and entered into JMP© Statistical Analysis Software.