To the FWGNA group:
Last Wednesday the US Fish & Wildlife Service (Boise Office) announced a
90-day comment period on a pair of competing petitions: one to remove Pyrgulopsis
idahoensis (the "Idaho springsnail") from the federal endangered
species list, the other to retain it and add several additional Pyrgulopsis
populations from Wyoming and Oregon. The April 20, 2005 notice in the
Federal Register is available as a PDF file from the link below. The
purpose of this essay will be to briefly review the recent history of this
simmering controversy from the standpoint of an interested outsider, with an
eye toward patching a rift I fear may develop within the community more
directly involved.
Pyrgulopsis idahoensis was one of five freshwater gastropods from the
Snake River watershed added to the federal endangered species list in December,
1992. At that time, the species was believed to be restricted to an 35
mile stretch of the main Snake River below the C. J. Strike Reservoir.
But as is too often the case, some fundamental background work on the biology
of the animal had yet to be done. Early last year Hershler & Liu
(2004a,b) reported that Pyrgulopsis populations conspecific with P.
idahoensis inhabit three other regions: the upper Snake River drainage
around Jackson Lake, Wyoming, springs scattered among Snake and Great Basin
drainages in southeast Oregon, and the Columbia River on the Oregon/Washington
border. The populations in the vicinity of Jackson Lake were previously
identified as P. robusta while the SE Oregon populations were previously
assigned to P. hendersoni. Since the nomen P. robusta
(Walker 1908) has priority over idahoensis and hendersoni (both
Pilsbry 1933), Hershler & Liu synonymized all these populations under P.
robusta.
Last June the State of Idaho, together with the Idaho Power Company, petitioned
the Fish & Wildlife Service to remove P. idahoensis from the federal
endangered species list. This was followed in August by a petition from
several (non-governmental) conservation groups to list the Pyrgulopsis
populations from all four of the regions mentioned above. Both petitions
referred to the data of Hershler & Liu (2004a), while reaching different
conclusions from it. Last week the FWS responded by announcing a status
review and a solicitation to the public for comments and information on both
petitions.
I would encourage any of our colleagues with data relevant to this issue to
communicate with the US Fish and Wildlife Service before June 20. Visit
the Snake River FWS link below for further details.
I have a concern of a secondary nature, however, which I think should be
addressed within our professional community, rather than through the federal
agencies and the various interest groups involved in the pending Idaho
springsnail showdown. I perceive some danger that we may begin to fight
among ourselves on this issue. I want to point out that we are all on the
same team here, and to the extent possible we need to be careful not to antagonize
each other.
Bob Hershler and Hsiu-Ping Liu are excellent scientists, and their 2004a paper
in The Veliger meets the highest standards of systematic malacology. Any
professional who has seen their research findings will respond by referring to
all the Pyrgulopsis populations involved in this matter as P. robusta.
I am not asserting that this is The Truth, only that the conclusions of
Hershler & Liu must become the lead hypothesis, against which any other
hypothesis may be tested.
Instead, the petition filed by the conservation groups in August continued to
refer to these populations as separate species: the Idaho springsnail (P.
idahoensis), the Jackson Lake springsnail (P. robusta), the Harney
Lake springsnail (P. hendersoni) and the Columbia springsnail (P.
spp. A), which has never been recognized as specifically distinct by any
professional malacologist. The petition criticized and picked at the work
of Hershler & Liu, suggesting that they "overlooked key differences
between the four species." Nonsense.
Worse, I understand that Bob Hershler's motives may have been impugned.
He and Hsiu-Ping did receive part of their funding from a law firm whose
clients include Idaho Power, but to suggest that this affected their scientific
judgment is an insult.
There seems to be a confusion widespread among environmental advocates to the
effect that "splitting is good, lumping is bad." Taxonomists
who split out new species at the drop of a nucleotide are seen as allies in the
good fight, while those of us who understand interpopulation variation are
painted as soldiers in the service of darkness. The root of this problem
is the mixture of science and politics, but I'll resist getting on my high
horse about that, for now.
Returning to the western Pyrgulopsis, however, the scientifically
responsible (and collegial!) approach for the Conservation Groups would have
been to petition for the listing of P. robusta, period. Any
confusion regarding the relationship between the nomena "P. robusta"
and "P. idahoensis" could have been cleared up in a couple paragraphs
of introduction. It's probably not possible, nor possibly even desirable, for
these groups to modify their August petition to the FWS at this point.
But somebody owes our colleague Bob Hershler and apology. And better
communication among all members of the team in the future, OK?
Keep in touch!
Rob
Links & References
Hershler, R. & H-P. Liu (2004a) Taxonomic reappraisal of species assigned
to the North American freshwater gastropod subgenus Natricola (Rissooidea:
Hydrobidae). The Veliger 47: 66-81.
Hershler, R. & H-P. Liu (2000b) A molecular phylogeny of aquatic gastropods
provides a new perspective on biogeographic history of the Snake River
region. Molec. Phyl. Evol. 32: 927-937.
US Fish & Wildlife Service. Notice of two 90-day petition findings...
Federal Register 70: 20512-20514. (PDF)
http://www.cofc.edu/~fwgna/downloads/IdahoSpringsnail.pdf
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Snake River Office:
http://idahoes.fws.gov/
(See "Service to review status of four springsnail species."
Dr. Robert T. Dillon, Jr.
Department of Biology, College of Charleston
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