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"I don't see any over here... there's 2 more here."
"Our work kind of goes at a snail's pace."
"They had just recently become a problem."
"Everyone was kind of in a panic."
"They didn’t really know what to do with them"
"or what they were.”
While a student at Southwestern University,
Rebecca Marfurt became curious about an exotic snail being seen
in the bayous of suburban Houston.
“These snails are exotic invasive species,"
"meaning that they don’t belong here and they spread,"
"which is sort of a double whammy."
"It’s not a good thing for the environment.”
“Let’s see what we can find.”
One student’s curiosity has led to years of research projects
for Professor Romi Burks’ biology classes.
"Whoa, snail! Got one! It's a big one!"
"We'll take this one back to the lab."
“They’re called apple snails"
"because they’re the size of an apple.”
“There’s very little information"
"in the scientific literature about this species.”
And so the class is collecting adult applesnails
"Another one!"
and their large pink egg clusters
to learn more about these creatures
and the threats they may pose.
“We’ve seen egg clutches as many as 4-5,000 eggs almost."
"That’s a lot of snails from just one.”
"This is a big egg clutch."
"Make an omelet, hot pink omelet."
“The one’s we’re studying, insularum, actually eat plants.
"They’re gaining attention as a possible threat"
"to Texas Wild Rice as well as agricultural rice.”
“It’s 39.30"
“We’re going to do some experiments"
"where we look at whether adult snails,"
"fish, or crayfish would eat the eggs."
"It’s very important to understand"
"how many of those eggs actually end up"
"as snails later on."
Ultimately, research done by these students may be the key
to keeping these invasive snails
from being a major threat, economically or ecologically.
“We know a lot more now than we just did six months ago.
" I still remain worried."
"They’re not going to go away."
"There’s unlimited questions from a research"
"and even teaching standpoint with students"
"that I don’t think I’ll ever be bored.”
For Texas Parks and Wildlife, this is Lydia Saldaña.