Nutrition
Most gastropods, like G. wheatleyi, are
usually herbivores meaning they consume plants (Rogers
et.al, 2009). However land snails have
also been found to consume all different types of organic
material which may include things such as decaying animals and
seeds or leaves (Barker, 2001).
When considering their feeding styles, they can be considered to
be grazers (Rogers et.al, 2009).
In order to be capable of this grazing or roaming
behavior, land snails use a chitinous structure known as the
radula (Purchon, 1968). The radula
contains many tiny little teeth that aid in the rasping of plant
matter and other food sources (Purchon,
1968). A big adaptation that is used heavily
in nutrition are the tentacles found at the anterior end of the
snail, that are used for things such as chemosensory and help
the snail decide whether or not to consume the material that lay
in its path (Barker, 2001).
With G. wheatleyi and other gastropods being
herbivores there is a natural effect on the plants within their
habitat. It can be a good effect in that the
plants that are fed upon are no longer competitors for the
others or it can just destroy many plants by only affecting some
tissue levels within that plant
(Barker, 2001). All in all for land
snails, nutrition can usually be found in an abundant manner
using specific modifications and adaptations of the specific
species.
After learning about nutrition, explore G. wheatleyi in Wisconsin.