Vol 3 Land Resource Inventory Report - Department of Environment ...

Summary Report to Fiji Government Departments of Environment, Forestry & Agriculture, July 2010
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Land Snails of the Fiji Islands: A Summary of their Biodiversity,
Quarantine & Agricultural Status and Human Health Relationships
Abstract
by
Gilianne Brodie 1 , Gary Barker 2 Alison Haynes 3 & Richard Singh 1
1 Division of Biology, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji
2 Landcare New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand
3 Institute of Applied Sciences, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji
The land snail fauna of Fiji is rich and diverse consisting of at least 245 species that cover 72
different genera and 28 families. There are undoubtedly new species to be discovered and
described. Two hundred and sixteen of the known species are native (indigenous) of which
167 are endemic (known only from Fiji). The fauna is thus characterised by 77% endemism,
confirming the importance of the unique Fijian land snail fauna at a national, regional and
global level. The majority, but not all, of the endemic species are found in native forest.
In addition, there are 18 introduced species with variable risk levels to agricultural
productivity, biodiversity loss or human and livestock health. Priorities for land snail species
conservation assessment, quarantine, health and agricultural risk are provided. The
consequences of not collating and utilising existing information includes risks to, unique
biodiversity, human and livestock health, agricultural crop production and in turn will have
potential economic implications for sustainable livelihoods and trade.
Background
The Islands of Fiji form part of the Micronesia-Polynesia biodiversity hotspot, which is
recognized by Conservation International as one of 25 key locations for conserving the
world’s biodiversity. A large proportion of the land-based fauna in this hotspot is endemic (a
unique occurrence of species within a limited geographic area) but the distribution and status
of much of this unique fauna is poorly documented, particularly for the enormously diverse
invertebrate-animal groups. This lack of baseline information limits our ability to conserve it
and from this perspective alone documenting Fiji’s land invertebrate biodiversity resources
are of global conservation importance.
Globally, land snails are in decline and the unique Pacific Island fauna is particularly
threatened (Lydeard et al. 2004). Land snail research projects undertaken in Hawaii, Samoa,
New Caledonia and French Polynesia have found very high levels of endemism but also
alarmingly that many endemics are either extinct or under considerable threat from habitat
destruction, human development and/or introduced species (Hadfield 1986, Cowie 2000,
2004, Bouchet & Abdou 2003, Brescia et al. 2008).
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