The effect of light intensity on terrestrial snail population density

Abstract

Terrestrial snails are commonly known to reside in many habitats on land including gardens, forests, and meadows with varying light intensities. Although previous research has suggested terrestrial snails prefer greater light intensity regions in a controlled lab setting, there is little research surrounding the influence of light intensity on snail abundance in their natural habitats (Perea et al., 2007). This project aimed to understand how light intensity may influence snail abundance in natural garden settings. We utilized the mark and recapture method in five 225 f² garden plots to estimate the population density of snails and performed a simple linear regression analysis to determine whether there was any relationship with the average light intensity in the gardens. No significant correlation was found between light intensity and terrestrial snail population density (R = 0.1371, p = 0.8259). It was concluded as a preliminary result that light intensity does not correlate with terrestrial snail population density, but more research is needed to confirm this outcome. The results of this study may have implications in furthering the understanding of environmental factors associated with the fundamental niche and spatial distributions of terrestrial snails, including light intensity.