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University study uncovers the secret lives of UK garden snail

Researchers track nocturnal snail activity for the first time, using LED lights and time-lapse photography. Snails were tracked over 72 hours, with researchers measuring their speed, distance travelled and exploration habits. Snail numbers have risen in recent years due to favourable breeding conditions. Slugs and snails can carry the lungworm parasite, Angiostrongylus vasorum, which is potentially fatal to dogs.

A ground-breaking study of UK snail behaviour using LED and UV light tracking has found that the nocturnal creatures can explore the length of an average British garden in just one night, reaching a top speed of one metre per hour. (more…)

Predators Hunt for A Balanced Diet

By Guest PostJanuary 16, 2012Natureaarhus university, anchomenus dorsalis, ants, aphids, balance of nutrients, balanced diet, beetle larvae, butterfly larvae, calorie content, crickets, denmark, female beetles, food webs, fruit flies, garden insect, grasshoppers, ground beetle, kim jensen, massey university, moths, new zealand, nutritional value, offspring, omnivores, predators, predatory animals, slugs, university of exeter

Predators select their prey in order to eat a nutritionally balanced diet and give themselves the best chance of producing healthy offspring.

A University of Exeter and Oxford-led study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows for the first time that predatory animals choose their food on the basis of its nutritional value, rather than just overall calorie content.

An international team of scientists from the Universities of Exeter and Oxford in the UK, University of Sydney (Australia), Aarhus University (Denmark) and Massey University (New Zealand) based their research on the ground beetle, Anchomenus dorsalis, a well-known garden insect that feasts on slugs, aphids, moths, beetle larvae and ants. (more…)

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University study uncovers the secret lives of UK garden snail

Predators Hunt for A Balanced Diet