Occurrences

Information is summarized from MNFI's database of rare species and community occurrences. Data may not reflect true distribution since much of the state has not been thoroughly surveyed.

Habitat

The trumpet vallonia occurs in grasslands, upland forest, alvars and calcareous cliffs (Nekola 2009).

Natural Community Types

• Alvar
• Dry sand prairie
• Dry southern forest
• Dry-mesic prairie
• Dry-mesic southern forest
• Hillside prairie
• Limestone cliff
• Mesic prairie
• Mesic sand prairie
• Mesic southern forest

Methodology

Management Recommendations

Unchecked recreational rock climbing has been found to negatively effect the lichens and other plants of limestone cliffs, which the trumpet vallonia and wide variety of other land snails rely on (McMillan et al. 2003). Conserving sections of cliff habitat to limit the impacts of recreational activities would benefit many species. Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are considered the greatest threats to land snail abundance and diversity (Kay 1995). Increased edge area, forest canopy reductions, and the loss of vegetative ground cover through human disturbance and heavy grazing (Suominen 1999) may alter necessary microhabitat characteristics, such as thick organic litter and moist conditions (Applegarth 1999, Gotmark et al. 2008, Walden 1995, Nekola 2003). Identification and conservation of important habitat areas is an important first step toward management. Fire has significant negative impacts on land snail populations (Applegarth 1999, Nekola 2002). Snag retention may mitigate these effects, as large logs may provide important refuges during fire and drought (Applegarth 1999). Prescribed fire management alternatives should be explored where trumpet vallonia and other vulnerable snails are present. Snails bioaccumulate heavy metals and chemical pollutants (Berger and Dallinger 1993, Regoli et al. 2006) and high exposure has been found to prevent reproduction altogether (Notten et al. 2006). Herbicides and insecticides should be applied with caution and affected populations monitored.

Active Period

Breeding from first week of May to fourth week of June

Survey Methods

As visual detection of this species is difficult, specimens are collected by litter sampling in suitable habitat. Samples are thoroughly heat-dried, soaked in water for a number of hours to separate the various components, and finally passed through a series of sieves. The shells are then able to be hand-picked from the remaining sample material (Nekola 2003).

Litter sampling

Survey Period: From first week of April to first week of October

Time of Day: Daytime

References

Survey References

• Nekola, J.C. 2003. Large-scale terrestrial gastropod community composition patterns in the Great Lakes region of North America. Diversity and Distributions 9:55-71.

Technical References

• Applegarth, J.S. 1999. Management recommendations for terrestrial mollusk species, Megophix hemphilli, the Oregon Megomphix. Version 2.0. 39pp.

• Baker, F.C. 1939. Fieldbook of Illinois Land Snails. Illinois Natural History Survey Manual 2, Urbana, Illinois. 166pp.

• Berger, B. and R. Dallinger. 1993. Terrestrial snails as quantitative indicators of environmental metal pollution. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 25(1):65-84.

• Gotmark, F., T. Von Proschwitz, and N. Franc. 2008. Are small sedentary species affected by habitat fragmentation? Local vs. landscape factors predicting species richness and composition of land molluscs in Swedish conservation forests. Journal of Biogeography 35: 1062-76.

• Kay, E.A. 1995. Hug a slug, save a snail: A status report on molluscan diversity and a framework for conservation action. Pp. 53-79. In: E.A. Kay (ed). 1995. The Conservation Biology of Molluscs. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

• McMillan, M.A., J.C. Nekola, and D.W. Larson. 2003. Effects of Rock Climbing on the Land Snail Community of the Niagara Escarpment in Southern Ontario, Canada. Conservation Biology 17(2):616-21.

• Nekola, J.C. 2002. Effects of fire management on the richness and abundance of central North American grassland land snail faunas. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation 25(2):53-66.

• Nekola, J.C. 2003. Large-scale terrestrial gastropod community composition patterns in the Great Lakes region of North America. Diversity and Distributions 9:55-71.

• Notten, M.J.M., A.J.P. Oosthoek, J. Rozema, and R. Aerts. 2006. Heavy metal pollution affects consumption and reproduction of the landsnail Cepaea nemoralis fed on naturally polluted Urtica dioica leaves. Ecotoxicology 15(3):295-304.

• Regoli, F., S. Gorbi, D. Fattorini, S. Tedesco, A. Notti, N. Machella, R. Bocchetti, M. Benedetti, and F. Piva. 2006. Use of the Land Snail Helix aspersa as Sentinel Organism for Monitoring Ecotoxicologic Effects of Urban Pollution: An Integrated Approach. Environmental Health Perspectives 114(1):63-69.

• Suominen, O. 1999. Impact of cervid browsing and grazing on the terrestrial gastropod fauna in the boreal forests of Fennoscandia. Ecography 22:651-58.

• Walden, H.W. 1995. Endangered species of land molluscs in Sweden and Madeira. In: The IUCN Species Survivial Commission, The Conservation Biology of Molluscs:19-24 (E. Alison Kay, Ed.) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland, Switzerland.