Establishing viable federally-endangered springsnail refuge populations at the albuquerque biopark aquatic conservation facility

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, through the Endangered Species Recovery Implementation program (CFDA 15.657), awarded a $132,710 Cooperative Agreement to the New Mexico Biopark Society Inc. effective February 1, 2024 for a 3-year project. The goal of the project is to develop husbandry techniques and establish captive breeding programs for two federally endangered springsnail species - the Roswell springsnail and Koster's springsnail. This will provide a contingency plan in case the wild springsnail populations decline due to factors like reduced spring flows and climate change. The project will further the recovery of these species by augmenting wild populations with captive-bred individuals and improving understanding of their life histories to support future recovery efforts.

Springsnails are among the most diverse and imperiled mollusks in north america due to groundwater pumping, livestock grazing, and increased risk of drought due to climate change. Many springsnail species are vulnerable to extinction because they often occupy narrow geographic ranges consisting of a single spring or spring complex. The goal of this project is to develop husbandry techniques for two species of federallyendangered springsnail, the roswell springsnail (pyrgulopsis roswellensis) and the koster s springsnail (juturnia kosteri). These two species are often found sympatrically in spring vents. All known extant populations for both species occur on bitter lake national wildlife refuge (NWR in roswell, new mexico. Bitter creek, an area of critical habitat for both species, experiences reduced flow in the summer because the water table lowers due to pumping of groundwater in the pecos valley. In recent years, sections of the creek have completely dried and appear to have lost springsnail populations. Therefore, IT is important to have a contingency plan in place in case water levels in springs become too low to support snail populations. This project would further the recovery plan for these species by developing a comprehensive captive propagation and contingency plan for the drying of springsnail habitat on bitter lake NWR. Further this project will develop a captive breeding program that will provide indiyiduals to augment wild populations. This project will also further our understanding of the life history of these two species could provide a basis for a future captive breeding program.