Slimy, Sticky & Unloved: Slugs in Britain

Slimy, Sticky & Unloved: Slugs in Britain
Natural History Live by Imogen Cavadino

Slugs are not a popular group with many people, especially those who are keen gardeners. However, they have fascinating life histories, behaviours and not all consume live plants. In this talk we’ll explore the fauna of slugs within Britain and Ireland.

Imogen Cavadino first became interested in slugs and snails during a taxonomy and identification module during her masters at university. A chance question and encounter with a national expert led to her completing a one-year TCV Natural Talent traineeship on “Non-marine molluscs” at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales in Cardiff. This included sampling terrestrial and aquatic molluscs across South East Wales, identifying material to species level and adding them to the museum’s permanent collections.

Imogen is now working on a PhD on understanding slugs and snail species diversity and ecology in gardens with the Royal Horticultural Society, Newcastle University and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. As part of her PhD, she is leading the RHS Cellar Slug Survey, collecting data on three large patterned species of slug found in British gardens to understand recent changes in distributions. She is also an ordinary committee member for the Conchological Society of Britain and Ireland, and acts as a verifier for terrestrial mollusc records on iRecord. She is a keen advocate for this often unloved and overlooked fascinating group of terrestrial invertebrates.

- Check out Imogen's blog on the RHS Cellar Slug Survey: https://www.fscbiodiversity.uk/blog/r...

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