CTAHR eXchange

You may have seen the news reports about the horticultural industry serving as a vector for invasive slugs and snails into Hawaii, including this one from the Sunday, November 30, 2008 Honolulu Advertiser.  Dr. Robert Cowie and his colleagues surveyed 40 nurseries, botanical gardens and other  facilities involved in the cultivation of plants across the Hawaii Islands.  In their survey, published in the International Journal of Pest Management Vol. 54(4):267-276, found 31 terrestrial snail and slug species, all but two of them were considered "alien" and five of the 31 were previously unreported.  Certain species were more common on Oahu. 

Figure 1.  Location of snail/slug surveys (from Cowie et al. 2008)

You can download Dr. Cowie's paper from the International Journal of Pest Management via the University of Hawaii at Manoa Hamilton Library, click on Electronic Journals and Books, enter the journal name in the search box and then follow the log-in prompts. 

 The citation of the paper is:

 Cowie, R.H., K.A. Hayes, C.T. Tran, Meyer III, W.M. 2008. The horticultural industry as a vector of alien snails and slugs: widespread invasions in Hawaii.  Int. J. Pest Manage. 54:267-276.  DOI: 10.1080/09670870802403986