Short-Term Survival Estimates of the New Zealand Mud Snail (Potamopyrgus Antipodarium) in Polecat Creek

Abstract

Invasive species are one of the primary threats to native biodiversity worldwide (Mack et al. 2000). Two main goals of invasion biology are to identify the mechanisms that determine which introduced species become invasive, or reach pest status, and which systems are susceptible to invasion (Heger and Trepl 2003). Therefore, it is vital to understand how invasive species sustain positive population growth rates in their introduced range. In this study, I estimated in situ survival of the invasive mud snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarium, in order to assess the population viability and life history patterns of this species in the Greater Yellowstone Area. The mean percent survival of P. antipodarium was 86% during the two-week study period. The field survival data is currently being used to construct a demographic population model of how P. antipodarum populations under different environmental conditions.