Growing snail incursions have prompted investment in capacity building to develop new ways to manage them in the western region
Snails are a persistent, invasive pest for grain growers, especially in cooler Mediterranean climates like the Albany and Esperance port zones, where they thrive. They not only damage crops but also contaminate harvested grain, making it difficult to maintain quality.
Managing infestations requires costly methods, including baiting, mechanical control and stubble management. Their adaptability allows them to survive dry periods by going dormant and quickly responding when conditions improve.
Wet conditions further boost their populations, making them unpredictable and challenging to control, especially after cool, wet summers.
However, another issue is confronting growers in the Albany and Esperance port zones. Here growers are applying lime to deal with subsoil constraints, but lime is a critical dietary requirement for snails, fundamental to their reproduction and shell growth.
Applying more lime means healthier snails, so growers have been cutting back their lime applications to reduce snail numbers.
Call in the NGN
Flagged through the National Grower Network (NGN) as a serious problem by growers in these port zones, GRDC has worked to develop new research investments in snails control. This has been the catalyst to assemble a unique collection of skills to focus on the issue and also increase entomology capacity for WA.
A collaboration between Murdoch University in Perth, the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) is investigating the calcium requirements of pest snails and the impacts of liming on snail populations.
Dr Wei Xu, an associate professor of entomology at Murdoch University, is leading research to develop an understanding of the role of calcium on the life cycles of Australian pest snails, including growth, vigour, shell development, reproduction and behavioural adaptation.
He says the research also involves training two PhD students, one solely GRDC supported, the other co-funded by Murdoch University.
One student, Muhammad Zubair, will be conducting laboratory, glasshouse or screenhouse trials to determine the minimum and maximum calcium intake requirements, lifetime calcium utilisation, and behavioural adaptations of the four pest snail species in Australian grains when calcium is limited.
The second student, Leia Gibson, will investigate novel, proof-of-concept approaches that may limit or block calcium absorption in snails.
Dr Kym Perry, research fellow in entomology at The University of Adelaide, is leading research to investigate the effects of different sources of environmental calcium on snail assemblages observed in crops.
His research, which involves collaboration with SARDI’s entomology and soil science teams, will also investigate how different liming products and strategies benefit snail population growth.
“While it is well-known that snails benefit from free lime, quantitative knowledge of these effects in Australian agriculture is lacking.
“This project will generate detailed insight into calcium utilisation in snails, and help to identify how growers might mitigate snail populations while maintaining the benefits to crop yields from addressing soil acidity,” Dr Perry says.
A selection of members of the multidisciplinary team applying their expertise to snail management in Western Australia. (From back) Dr Ramesha H Jayaramaiah and Dr Shovon Sarkar (Murdoch University), Dr Kate Muirhead (SARDI), Dr Kym Perry (University of Adelaide), Muhammad Zubair (left), Dr Wei Xu and Leia Gibson (all Murdoch University). Photo: Evan Collis
Expert supervisory team
The projects bring together a unique team of PhD supervisors for the students: Dr Perry from the University of Adelaide; Dr Penghao Wang, a biostatistician from Murdoch University; Dr Francesca Brailsford, an expert on ironstone gravel soils; and Dr Ramesha H Jayaramaiah, a soil scientist – together with Dr Xu.
Dr Perry is an entomologist and a leading Australian expert on snails and brings his years of experience researching snail ecology and management in SA to supervising the WA PhD students at Murdoch University.
Dr Perry says this project complements other nationally focused GRDC investments in snails as part of a broad effort to find more effective management options for these pests.
“Snail control remains an integrated management approach, as a silver bullet for these invasive pests does not exist,” Dr Perry says.
“Accordingly, our snail research program, which has significant GRDC investment, is progressing new monitoring and control options incorporating novel mechanical and biological tools and AI monitoring technologies.”
Our goal is to expand growers’ snails management toolkit.
Dr Wang is a senior lecturer within the Centre for Crop and Food Innovation and Food Futures Institute at Murdoch University. He brings expertise in data analysis and modelling.
Dr Brailsford is a postdoctoral research fellow with SoilsWest in the Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems at Murdoch University. Her expertise includes the nutritional components of ironstone gravel soils using three-dimensional X-ray scans of gravel structure and micro-computed tomography (a method of producing a 3D image of the internal structures of a solid object). She will also assist in applying advanced stable isotope technology to trace snails’ calcium utilisation.
Dr Jayaramaiah is a postdoctoral soil scientist with SoilsWest – a post supported by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. He is an expert in soil ecology, focusing on soil fauna’s role in nutrient transformation of agricultural soil.
His research identifies soil faunal communities, explores their interactions with soil microorganisms, and uncovers their influence in nitrogen and phosphorus cycles using combined morphological identification, advanced stable isotope tracing and state-of-the-art molecular approaches.
Dr Xu’s research focuses on insect chemical ecology, molecular biology, biochemistry, biological control and functional genomics to improve our understanding of insect behaviours, insect–host interaction and evolution.
His long-term goal is to develop more sustainable and environmentally friendly methods for pest control and crop protection.
“This unique collection of expertise will stimulate novel idea generation by the PhD students for snail management specifically,” Dr Xu says.
“Ultimately, we will be delivering new knowledge and new methods for snail management, together with building capacity in entomology for the future.”
More information: Dr Wei Xu, w.xu@murdoch.edu.au; Dr Kym Perry, kym.perry@adelaide.edu.au
Useful resources
- Nail the Snails! GRDC podcast
- Multifaceted approach to combat snails in grain crops
- Snail control – key strategies and where to next GRDC Update Paper