Diversity of terrestrial and freshwater snails of the Panguana Nature Reserve

Current:

As part of the planned project, Birte Wendebourg and Timo Zeimet, together with a group of researchers led by Dr Diller, travelled to Panguana for four weeks in April/May 2016. There they systematically sampled the mollusc fauna of the various terrestrial and freshwater biotopes in the nature reserve. The collected material is to be systematically faunistically analysed by the students as part of their final theses.

NEW:  Report on a field visit from 17. April-16. May 2016 (in German)

The Andean region in South America is one of the most important focal points of biodiversity worldwide. However, the biodiversity of invertebrates in particular is still insufficiently researched. Numerous undescribed species are still to be expected here. Even of the species that are already known, we hardly know anything about their distribution and biology. Therefore, LIB scientists are planning to record the terrestrial and freshwater snails of the Panguana nature reserve in Peru in a pilot project.

Panguana is a biological research station founded in 1968 by Prof. Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke together with his wife Dr. Maria Koepcke in the lowland rainforest in central Peru; in a region once still largely without anthropogenic influence. Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke, who had worked at the Museum of nature - Zoology in Hamburg since 1974, was employed at the Natural History Museum in Lima at the time, as was his wife, who died in Peru in 1971. Initially little more than a simple hut in traditional indigenous architectural style, Panguana is the oldest biological research station in the South American country.

• Flyer Panguana - Research Station (in German)
• Brief description of Panguana - research station and nature reserve in the Amazon rainforest (in German)

After Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke's death in 2000, it is run by his daughter, Dr Juliane Diller, who is Deputy Director of the Munich State Zoological Collection. Since 2008, the station has been generously supported by the Munich Hofpfisterei, an ecologically producing large bakery company, which made the improvement of the infrastructure possible. In 2011, Panguana was declared a private nature reserve by the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment. There is a long-standing cooperation agreement with the Natural History Museum in Lima (Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos).

Station and fauna

The research area is located on the Río Yuyapichis, a tributary of the Río Pachitea, between the foot of the Peruvian Cordillera Oriental and the 2500 m high Sira Mountains. It is covered by different types of forest, a flood-free high forest, but also swamp, riparian and secondary forests, and contains different types of water bodies.

The fauna and flora around the Panguana nature reserve have been systematically studied for a long time, coordinated by Ms Diller, mostly by researchers from the ZSM. The area is a "hotspot" of biodiversity. On 2 km2 in the core area of Panguana alone, more than 500 tree and 15 palm species as well as more than 600 vertebrate species, including 353 bird and 111 mammal species, among the latter alone 56 bat species (for comparison: 260 breeding bird species and 27 bat species live in the whole of Germany) have been found. In addition, there are 79 reptile and 74 amphibian species. However, the invertebrates are particularly rich in species, including 520 proven ant species; among the small butterflies, there are probably an estimated 15,000 species that are still largely unknown.

The station in the middle of a research area of about 9 km2 is located at an altitude of about 230 m on the Rio Yuyapichis, a tributary of the Rio Pachitea, which as one of the major headwaters of the Peruvian Andean slope feeds the Amazon.

The mollusc fauna of Panguana has also not been taken into account so far; just as there is hardly any data on the mollusc fauna of the surrounding regions in Peru. Snails and molluscs in particular are known to be good indicators of the quality of biotopes; they are less mobile than other invertebrates (such as butterflies, beetles and other insects), are thus closely bound to specific habitats and are comparatively easy to collect.

The project

In the Panguana nature reserve, the terrestrial and freshwater mollusc fauna has not been systematically studied so far. Therefore, LIB scientists are now planning to record the terrestrial and freshwater molluscs as part of a pilot project for 2016. The aim is to investigate which snail species occur in the area and whether they form characteristic communities in the different habitat types. At the same time, this will also serve to further research the mollusc fauna of Peru.

The still largely untouched and remote rainforest area of Panguana, which extends from the station to the 2500 m high Sira Mountains 40 km away, is crossed by white water and black water streams. Other water biotopes differ in vegetation. The estanque is a forest pond overshadowed by trees, which becomes very large in the rainy season, but can also dry out completely in pronounced dry periods. Under the layer of leaves, however, it remains moist all year round. Aguajal are pools with palm trees (typically the Aguaje palm, Mauritia flexuosa, but also some other species). Several pools 1-3 are also located in the middle of the primary forest, but are not overshadowed by tree canopies. They do not dry out.

The station in the middle of a research area of about 9 km2 is located at an altitude of about 230 m on the Rio Yuyapichis, a tributary of the Rio Pachitea, which as one of the major headwaters of the Peruvian Andean slope feeds the Amazon.