The reproductive response of Cornu aspersum to different hibernation conditions

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study was conducted between February and May 2019 on mature Cornu aspersum in the Black Sea region, Turkey to investigate the effects of different hibernation situations on reproductive responses. Three snail groups were studied: NH (natural hibernation), ASH (artificial short hibernation) and ALH (artificial long hibernation). NH showed inactive behaviour and had no reproductive activity while ASH and ALH performed intensive reproduction. During the experiment, the mean spawning rate (SpR), egg number (EgN), hatching rate (HR) and offspring number (OfN) were 20.50 ± 1.69%, 100.10 ± 5.22, 85.63 ± 2.36 and 80.69 ± 5.44 in the ASH group; 23.43 ± 3.36%, 122.33 ± 7.62, 61.55 ± 10.76 and 70.26 ± 11.60 in the ALH group, respectively. In conclusion, the high temperatures in the winter months of 2019 may have caused NH snails to become reproductively inactive, or it could simply be a consequence of their life-history strategy. Snails in the ASH and ALH groups represented a resource allocation trade-off between fecundity and survival to carry the genetic information to the next generation. This study leads to a better understanding of land snail reproductive physiology and behavioural responses to different hibernation conditions.