Dear Tom and listers,

Thanks, Tom, but this email went to Conch-L by mistake. I actually
posted the same message in April of 2006 and received some other
helpful responses.

I'm now working on report based on these and others I received
through the Mollusca listserve, and that's how I got myself fouled up.

Sorry,
Harry


At 01:00 PM 12/28/2007, you wrote:
>It would make a great research project.  I did read once of a similar study
>done with beach-washed shells.  It found (if I remember correctly) that a
>cowrie lost its gloss within 30 minutes of being loose (i.e. dead) in wave
>tossed beach sand.  Obviously, if buried, wedged between rocks, claimed by a
>hermit crab, or otherwise protected, the rate of dissolution would be much
>slower.  I have watched this with nerite shells in an aquarium and they do
>not last much beyond a year.
>
>Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Conchologists List On Behalf Of
>Harry G. Lee
>Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 10:30 AM
>Subject: [CONCH-L] micromollusks in leaf litter
>
>
>Here's a poser for most any collector of empty molluscan shells:
>
>Has there been any experimental work to predict the rate of
>(dis)solution of the empty shells of small (less than 5 mm.)
>gastropod shells in leaf litter. Certainly pH and other factors exert
>some influence on the process.
>
>The answer may be helpful in relating the shells of a litters ample
>to the fauna actually living in the immediate temporal and spatial vicinity.
>
>Harry
>Harry G. Lee, M. D.
>4132 Ortega Forest Dr.
>Jacksonville, FL 32210 USA
>voice (904) 389 4049
>email: [log in to unmask]
>look at www.jaxshells.org

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