Effect of soil conditions and landscape factors on macro-snail communities in newly created grasslands of restored landfill sites in the UK

Md Lutfor Rahman, Sam Tarrant, Jeff Ollerton, Duncan McCollin

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Though restored landfill sites provide habitat for a number of taxa, their potential for land snail remains unexplored. In this study, large-sized land snails (> 5 mm) were surveyed using transect sampling on nine restored landfill sites and nine corresponding nature sites in the East Midlands region of the UK during 2008. The effect of restoration was investigated by examining land snail species composition, richness, and diversity (Shannon Weiner index) in relation to habitat and landscape structure. Thirteen macro-snail species were found in total and rarefied species richness and diversity on restored landfill sites was not found to be statistically different to that of reference sites. One third of the snail species, comprising 30% of total abundance, found in the restored landfill sites were non-native species introduced to the UK. Soil electrical conductivity was the strongest predictor for richness and diversity of land snails. Road density was found to have a positive influence on snail species diversity. Given the high percentage of introduced species detected further research is needed in terms of the management implications of restored landfill sites and the dynamics of native versus non-native species.
Original languageEnglish
JournalZoology and Ecology
Volume26
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Aug 2016

Keywords

  • Landfill
  • restoration ecology
  • Mollusca
  • land snail
  • waste ground
  • restoration
  • grassland

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