June 15, 2021

Snails carrying the world's smallest computer help solve mass extinction survivor mystery

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2021-06-15 10:30:04

June 15, 2021

by University of Michigan

More than 50 species of tree snail in the South Pacific Society Islands were wiped out following the introduction of an alien predatory snail in the 1970s, but the white-shelled Partula hyalina survived.

Now, thanks to a collaboration between University of Michigan biologists and engineers with the world's smallest computer, scientists understand why: P. hyalina can tolerate more sunlight than its predator, so it was able to persist in sunlit forest edge habitats.

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