Glimmer of hope for Tahitian tree snails' survival

Despite the mass extermination of Tahiti’s unique species of tree snails in recent decades, much of their original genetic diversity can still be found in remnant populations that survive on the island, researchers report in the July 3rd issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. The findings offer renewed hope that targeted conservation measures may yet preserve a representative, although impoverished, fraction of Tahiti’s endemic tree snail genetic diversity in the wild—a feat earlier believed to be impossible.