These non-natives can be neutral or detrimental to native species. Still other species can, despite the drought, survive comfortably in manicured gardens and other watered green spaces even in heavily urbanized places. For other snails, in particular some foreign species, our Mediterranean climate and urban environment can make for easy living. Think: cement, freeways, and buildings where forests and chaparral once were. Many land snail species native to Southern California are threatened with extinction because their natural habitat has been reduced or changed substantially by human development and urbanization. Southern California species are no different. Many species evolve quickly to very specific habitats, making them sensitive to environmental changes and therefore vulnerable to extinction. The question at the heart of this project is, “What is the biodiversity of land snails and slugs in Los Angeles County?” All over the world, land snails are one of the most vulnerable animal groups to extinction. With this information we hope to identify the species that call the urban areas of Southern California home, those that are new to the area, and those that haven’t been able to survive the changes that urbanization has made to their homeland. ![]() We’d like you to help us complete the first community science snail survey focusing on urban Southern California by finding snails and slugs and taking photos and emailing them to us or uploading them to the SLIME iNaturalist page. That’s where community scientists come in! However, not much is known about this mollusk biodiversity today, especially within the cities of Southern California. The Natural History Museum’s collection of land snails includes thousands of specimens from locations throughout the Los Angeles basin and spans the last 100 years. ![]() Snails and slugs Living in Metropolitan Environments (SLIME) is a community science project that aims to catalogue the biodiversity of terrestrial gastropods (land snails and slugs) in Los Angeles County and throughout Southern California.
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