ePod

ePod - Slugs and snails and brainworm tales: an Arctic gastropod mystery

Climate sensitive infections, like the parasite Elaphostrongylus rangiferi (brainworm), are, given current climate trends, an increasing threat to the sustainability of Arctic agriculture and indigenous Sami reindeer herding.

Brainworm has an indirect lifecycle with temperature sensitive development to the infectious stage in gastropod (slugs and snails) intermediate hosts. Fifteen species of terrestrial gastropods have been shown to be suitable intermediate hosts under laboratory conditions, but not much is known about natural disease transmission. An important missing piece of the puzzle is which gastropod species are parasitized in nature.

In ePod, we will investigate the biodiversity, distribution and habitat preferences of gastropods in the summer grazing area of a semi-domesticated reindeer herd in Finnmark. We will then analyse these gastropods for molecular identification and the presence of brainworm larvae.