The Results of a Long-Term Monitoring and Experiment to Enrich the Gene Pool of Populations of the Bush Snail Bradybaena fruticum (Müll.) in Urbanized Territories on the Basis of Analysis of Phenetic Features

Abstract

The results of a long-term monitoring of the dynamics of phenetic features in ten populations of the bush snail Bradybaena fruticum (Mull.) in the Moscow region and city parks of Moscow have revealed that the frequency of the allele of striped shells remained unchanged in large natural populations, while there was a shift in the frequencies of this allele in small urbanized isolates. Simultaneously, in a series of generations, a tendency for the frequency of yellow shells to increase has been revealed, which can be accounted for by the ongoing lightening of the habitats (decreasing the shade density) and confirms the adaptability of the feature of shell color. The long-term experiment to maintain the viability of four urban populations of the bush snail Bradybaena fruticum (Mull.), which started with enriching their gene pool in 2003 and finished with monitoring in 2005, has revealed a shift in the frequencies of the stripe allele of shells. Further control over the condition of the gene pool of the rehabilitated populations (2017–2019) has revealed constancy of the frequency of this feature since 2005 within two generations of snails, including two populations where p < 0.01 and one where p < 0.05. Thus, the monitoring of the results of the experiment to enrich the gene pool of populations confirms that the patented method for maintaining population viability proves effective for restoration of the genetic diversity and viability of animal populations.