Hawaiian Land Snails: Lessons in Conservation, Curation, and Research

By Dr. Norine Yeung, Malacology Curator, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum

"Hawaiian Land Snails: Lessons in Conservation, Curation, and Research": The Hawaiian Islands support a spectacular biodiversity of land snails with at least 759 species with distinctive evolutionary, ecological, and cultural legacies that play an important role in understanding land snail evolution and geographical distribution. Hawaiian land snails’ extraordinary endemicity (species present only on the islands) of higher than 99% is rivaled only by the scale of local extinctions.

During the past 15 years major steps in study and research have helped bridge knowledge gaps hampering conservation. A change in public perception about snails is also necessary for their survival. Dr. Yeung presents an overview of what remains and suggestions for what is needed to develop effective conservation strategies for the future of land snails in Hawaii.

About the Speaker: Dr. Norine Yeung has been Malacology Curator at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum since 2015. She is also a Natural Area Reserves Commissioner for the Department of Land and Natural Resources in Honolulu, Hawaii. She has been involved with Hawaiian land snail conservation, research, and publication for over a decade. Dr. Young earned her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Zoology from University of Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu.