Catalina Spurs Discovery
With studies dating back to the 1890s, researchers have long known that 14 different types of land snails live on Catalina Island. A new look at these often overlooked creatures found one of these species of snails may be unique to Catalina: It may be another of the more than 60 endemic species found only on the Island and nowhere else in the world.
“Through DNA analysis, it can be shown that the Catalina form of the snail is very different from what were thought to be populations of the same species on the other Channel Islands,” said Jeff Nekola, PhD, a researcher from the University of New Mexico who identified the new species and plans to publish a paper about it. “And knowing that it was different, it was then possible to spot shell characters that separated it as well.”
Nekola said he anticipates formally giving the new snail species a name that recognizes the first people known to live on the Island, the Tongva, by incorporating their name for Catalina, Pimu, into the snail’s scientific name.
ISLAND ATTRACTS RESEARCHERS
Nekola is among numerous researchers who have traveled to the Island in their quest to better understand the planet’s animals, plants and ecosystems. Whether they’re studying biology, archeology, geology or any of a number of other fields of scientific inquiry, Catalina Island can serve as a living laboratory for finding the answers to their questions about the natural world.
The Island’s remoteness can mean less interference from other factors that might confound an experiment or research project on the mainland. At the same time, Catalina’s approximately 4,000 residents and nearly 1 million annual visitors provide an opportunity to explore the interface between humans and nature. The Island’s unique environment not only fosters scientific inquiries: It can produce findings that that are transferable to the mainland.
CONSERVANCY’S RESEARCH INFORMS MAINLAND STUDIES
For instance, the Catalina Island Conservancy’s innovative contraception program to control the size of the Island’s bison herd is being closely watched by the National Park Service in Yellowstone and others who manage bison herds to determine if it’s a strategy they can use.
The Conservancy’s work with the Institute of Wildlife Studies, which restored the populations of the endangered Catalina Island fox and the Island’s bald eagles, was an important contribution in saving the endemic island fox species and restoring bald eagles across all the Channel Islands. This work has also been relevant to questions of animal reproduction in zoos on the mainland.
Cheryl Asa, PhD, director of research for the Saint Louis Zoo, had previously worked with the fox recovery program on the other Channel Islands and is now studying the importance of mate choice in managing zoo populations because of what she observed among the foxes.
FOX RECOVERY PROVIDES INSIGHTS FOR ZOOS
She said the foxes, which had chosen their mates before being brought into captivity, reproduced more reliably than the ones born in captivity and then paired with a mate selected by humans. This led her to engage others in the zoo community on how mate choice might be presented to females and the outcomes assessed.
“We at the Saint Louis Zoo have been focusing mostly on cheetahs, which we know are choosy,” she said.
Asa said the zoo’s staff is using male cheetahs’ urine as a “proxy” for the males to gauge females’ interest. By giving the females this scent to evaluate which mates they may prefer, she said zoo managers are hoping to reduce the number of males that have to be shipped to another location to be introduced to a female, only to be rejected.
PLANT INFORMATION MADE WIDELY AVAILABLE
For botanists and others interested in plant life, the Conservancy is documenting Catalina’s plant life and making it widely available to scientists through its herbarium. Established in 1971, the herbarium has preserved specimens of plants that researchers can use to study Catalina’s native and endemic species.
Many of the specimens were collected in the early 1900s, so researchers can compare them to today’s plants to see how the plants may have changed over time. The Conservancy’s staff also has collected pollen samples from 465 specimens and sent the pollen to a researcher who is reconstructing prehistoric and historic environments of Catalina Island.
The Conservancy has recently worked to input information about all of its vascular plant specimens into a searchable database. In this way, it is making information about Catalina Island plant life available to researchers around the world.
“Scientists have been traveling to Catalina since the late 1800s to understand its unique flora, fauna and geology,” said John J. Mack, former Conservancy chief conservation and education officer. “Through its own studies and by hosting other researchers, the Conservancy is advancing our understanding of the natural world.”
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