Road as a major driver for potential distribution of the invasive giant African land snail in Nepal
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Tropical Ecology https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-020-00115-4
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Road as a major driver for potential distribution of the invasive giant African land snail in Nepal Shova Adhikari1 · Hari Prasad Sharma1 · Bhagawat Rimal2 · Jerrold L. Belant3 · Hem Bahadur Katuwal4,5 Received: 23 June 2020 / Revised: 17 September 2020 / Accepted: 27 September 2020 © International Society for Tropical Ecology 2020
Abstract Biodiversity loss is increasing globally due to many anthropogenic factors including invasive species. Among the invasive species, the giant African land snail which is World’s worst invasive species is threatening the native species and become major pest for economy loss. Although the impact of snail is widespread in Nepal, we have little knowledge on their distribution and spreading factors. Using species distribution modeling, we found more than 50% of their potential area at Tarai region followed by Siwalik (29%) and 20% in mid-hill regions. The findings indicated that the species has potential for spreading to the high-mountain areas due to road and transportation. Inspite of past history of the species occurrences, the current distribution expanded across the entire country in the low lands and mountain regions. Therefore, we recommend government to prevent the potential spreading of the giant African land snail in Nepal by developing and devising policy measures to control the species in and around the roadsides. In addition, we suggest the government for proper cleaning of vehicles and transporting materials before transportation or area specific quarantine through public awareness. Keywords Distribution modeling · Invasive species · Public awareness · Tarai region · Threats · Transportation
Introduction Biodiversity loss is rapidly increasing worldwide (Ceballos et al. 2015), with poaching (Brooks et al. 1997), habitat fragmentation (Fahrig 2003), and the spread of invasive species (Kohli et al. 2004). Invasive species can threaten Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-020-00115-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Hari Prasad Sharma [email protected] 1
Central Department of Zoology, Institute of Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
2
College of Applied Sciences (CAS) Nepal, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
3
Global Wildlife Conservation Center, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, USA
4
Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, Yunnan, China
5
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
biodiversity through encroachment and habitat loss (McNeely et al. 2001; Bhattarai 2012), introduce disease risk to humans (e.g., McNeely et al. 2001; Vilà and Hulme 2017), and cause economic loss (Essl et al. 2017). The giant African land snail (GALS; Achatina fulica), categorized as on
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