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Priorities for Future Research
Little is known about the biology of Pomacea snails in Florida and elsewhere. Needed life history data include demography of snails and ecological factors that negatively affect their survival (e.g., pesticides, predators, hydrological parameters, etc.).
A major source of egg/nestling mortality and nesting failure has been attributed to abandonment and/or unknown sources (see Demography and Populations: causes of mortality). Detailed behavioral studies should be directed toward determining specific causes of nest abandonment, egg/nestling disappearance, and brood reduction. Some life history traits need to be addressed further, e.g., extent of multiple brooding, nest-site fidelity, survivorship, adult mortality, sex ratios, sequences of molt by age and sex, DNA-based genetics, etc.
Little is known about Snail Kite populations in Cuba, the impact of present land-use practices there, and the extent of interchange, if any, between that island and Florida.
Sykes, Jr., P. W., J. A. Rodgers, Jr. and R. E. Bennetts. 1995. Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/171
