Examining microbial assemblage differences on plants preferred and avoided by threatened Hawaiian land snails to identify important food resources
10 affiliations
- 1Molecular Biology Department, Pomona College, Claremont, California, United States of America.
- 2Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences Department, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States of America.
- 3National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America.
- 4Bishop Museum, Malacology, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States of America.
- 5Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States of America.
- 6Bishop Museum, Pacific Center for Molecular Biodiversity, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States of America.
- 7Department of Integrative Biology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
- 8Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, United States of America.
- 9Kamehameha Schools, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States of America.
- 10Biology Department, Pomona College, Claremont, California, United States of America.
Abstract
The Hawaiian Islands, an isolated oceanic archipelago in the Pacific, had one of the world’s most spectacular land snail radiations. Unfortunately, only 35% of the 759 Hawaiian snail species remain, with >100 species threatened with imminent extinction. Though many extant Hawaiian snails are arboreal and are known to eat microbes on the surface of plants, our current understanding of which microbes compose arboreal Hawaiian snails’ diets remains rudimentary. Here, we examined microbial assemblages (bacterial and fungal) on plants previously identified as preferred and avoided by a diverse assemblage of arboreal snails at three sites in wet and mesic forests on O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, USA, to identify microbes that may form the foundation of Hawaiian arboreal snails’ diets. At Mt. Ka‘ala, we also investigated if microbial assemblages change across years. Across sites, microbial assemblages differed on preferred and avoided plants. While differences across sites can complicate the process of identifying key microbes, microbes with elevated abundances on preferred plants across sites are likely important food resources. Using this approach, we identified bacterial and fungal OTUs that we hypothesize form important components of Hawaiian arboreal snails’ diets. While we found that microbial assemblages differed among years at Mt. Ka‘ala, differences between preferred and avoided plants remained consistent across years. Expanding a snail plant preference–microbiome framework across multiple forest types is a crucial step in understanding arboreal snail diets as microbial taxa enriched on preferred plants across sites may be meaningful components of snail-associated microbial resources. Microbial taxa enriched on preferred plants are not presented here as confirmed dietary components, but as experimentally tractable candidates that should be further evaluated in laboratory trials. This information is foundational to improving captive rearing of critically endangered snails and informing habitat quality assessments for the many threatened Hawaiian snails.
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BibTeX
@article{perry2026examining,
title = {{Examining microbial assemblage differences on plants preferred and avoided by threatened Hawaiian land snails to identify important food resources}},
author = {Nelia S Perry and André R O Cavalcanti and Kenneth A Hayes and Norine W Yeung and David R Sischo and Samantha H Shizuru and Adrienne K Antonsen and Meagan L Haubner and Ally N Ah Cook and Charlton E Hee and Mandilee M Y Hill and Constantine T Krenteras and Taylor M B Maruno and Riley H Nakasone and Hope K Rosenbush and Sidney M Stiefel and August J Sullivan and Wallace M Meyer Iii},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0361108},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361108},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Examining microbial assemblage differences on plants preferred and avoided by threatened Hawaiian land snails to identify important food resources
AU - Nelia S Perry
AU - André R O Cavalcanti
AU - Kenneth A Hayes
AU - Norine W Yeung
AU - David R Sischo
AU - Samantha H Shizuru
AU - Adrienne K Antonsen
AU - Meagan L Haubner
AU - Ally N Ah Cook
AU - Charlton E Hee
AU - Mandilee M Y Hill
AU - Constantine T Krenteras
AU - Taylor M B Maruno
AU - Riley H Nakasone
AU - Hope K Rosenbush
AU - Sidney M Stiefel
AU - August J Sullivan
AU - Wallace M Meyer Iii
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0361108
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361108
AB - The Hawaiian Islands, an isolated oceanic archipelago in the Pacific, had one of the world’s most spectacular land snail radiations. Unfortunately, only 35% of the 759 Hawaiian snail species remain, with >100 species threatened with imminent extinction. Though many extant Hawaiian snails are arboreal and are known to eat microbes on the surface of plants, our current understanding of which microbes compose arboreal Hawaiian snails’ diets remains rudimentary. Here, we examined microbial assemblages (bacterial and fungal) on plants previously identified as preferred and avoided by a diverse assemblage of arboreal snails at three sites in wet and mesic forests on O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, USA, to identify microbes that may form the foundation of Hawaiian arboreal snails’ diets. At Mt. Ka‘ala, we also investigated if microbial assemblages change across years. Across sites, microbial assemblages differed on preferred and avoided plants. While differences across sites can complicate the process of identifying key microbes, microbes with elevated abundances on preferred plants across sites are likely important food resources. Using this approach, we identified bacterial and fungal OTUs that we hypothesize form important components of Hawaiian arboreal snails’ diets. While we found that microbial assemblages differed among years at Mt. Ka‘ala, differences between preferred and avoided plants remained consistent across years. Expanding a snail plant preference–microbiome framework across multiple forest types is a crucial step in understanding arboreal snail diets as microbial taxa enriched on preferred plants across sites may be meaningful components of snail-associated microbial resources. Microbial taxa enriched on preferred plants are not presented here as confirmed dietary components, but as experimentally tractable candidates that should be further evaluated in laboratory trials. This information is foundational to improving captive rearing of critically endangered snails and informing habitat quality assessments for the many threatened Hawaiian snails.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -