Linkage of cold hardiness with desiccation tolerance in the invasive freshwater apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata (Caenogastropoda: Ampullariidae)

Abstract

Linkage between cold hardiness and desiccation tolerance was examined in an invasive freshwater apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata, collected from locations in three different climatic zones. Snails collected from temperate Kyushu, Japan, showed enhanced cold hardiness after cold acclimation, and cold-tolerant snails survived longer after exposure to desiccation than cold-intolerant snails without cold acclimation. Progenies of tropical snails collected from Luzon and Mindanao, the Philippines, which had never experienced cold weather revealed the same response as Japanese snails to cold stress: enhancement of cold hardiness after cold acclimation. Cold-tolerant snails from tropical populations also attained better survivorship under desiccation conditions. Thus, linkage of tolerance between cold weather and desiccation appears to be a general feature of P. canaliculata. Cold hardiness of snails before and after cold acclimation, respectively, did not differ among the three populations from temperate and tropical regions. A trend was found for snails from Mindanao, in the tropical rainforest climatic zone (having a milder dry season), to be less desiccation-tolerant than snails from Kyushu and Luzon, having a colder or more severe dry season. © The Author 2011.