Diversity of terrestrial and freshwater snails of the Panguana Nature Reserve in Peru

Catching snails in the rainforest

The Andes region in South America is one of the most important centres of biodiversity in the world. However, the biodiversity of invertebrates in particular is still insufficiently researched. Molluscs in particular - such as snails and mussels - are recognised as good indicators of the quality of biotopes.

In the Peruvian nature reserve Panguana, the terrestrial and freshwater mollusc fauna has not yet been systematically researched. Birte Wendebourg and Timo Zeimet therefore travelled to Peru with a team of researchers led by Dr Juliane Diller and sampled the mollusc fauna of various biotopes.

The project is also investigating which snail species occur in the area and whether they form characteristic communities in the various habitat types. This will also serve to further research the mollusc fauna of Peru.

Journey to the oldest research station in Peru

Panguana is a biological research station founded in 1968 by Hamburg Professor Dr Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke together with his wife Dr Maria Koepcke in the lowland rainforest in central Peru. It is the oldest biological research station in the South American country.

The still largely untouched and remote rainforest area, which stretches from the station to the 2500 metre high Sira Mountains 40 kilometres away, is criss-crossed by whitewater and blackwater streams. Other water biotopes differ in their vegetation.

The research area is located on the Río Yuyapichis, a tributary of the Río Pachitea, between the foot of the Cordillera Oriental and the Sira Mountains. It is covered by different types of forest, a flood-free high forest, but also swamp, riparian and secondary forests.

One of the most important global focal points of biodiversity

The area is a hotspot of biodiversity: over 500 tree and 15 palm species as well as over 600 vertebrate species, including 353 bird and 111 mammal species, were found in the two square kilometres of the core area alone. There are also around 79 reptile and 74 amphibian species.

However, the invertebrates are particularly rich in species. Among the small butterflies, there are probably an estimated 15,000 species that are still largely unknown. The mollusc fauna has also not yet been taken into account, just as there is hardly any data available on the mollusc fauna of the neighbouring regions in Peru.

The material collected during the pilot project will therefore be analysed faunistically and systematically by students as part of their final theses.