Data from: Forest snail faunas from Transylvania (Romania), and their relationship to the faunas of Central and Northern Europe

Forty-three forest sites in seven sampling areas in mountainous parts of Transylvania were sampled to obtain inventories of their snail faunas, and to make comparisons between these and the faunas of similar sites further north along the Carpathian chain. Sampling areas ran from close to the Ukrainian border in the north to Retezat in the south-west. Altogether, 83 species were found, and between 19 and 40 species at individual sites. Sites within the same sampling area had more species in common than in among-area comparisons, but differences between areas did not relate to distance between them. Such differences appeared to relate more to ecological factors than to geography. Faunas of all areas were very similar to those recorded from the Polish and Ukrainian Carpathians; distance from these northern faunas had little effect on similarity. More broadly, the fauna of these forests shows much greater affinity to those of countries to the north than to those of countries to the south. Despite the survival of forests through the last glacial period of the Pleistocene, and the greater proximity to potential Mediterranean refugia, these faunas appear to be mainly a subset of those found further north. They represent a rather small proportion of the known Romanian fauna, in which there are many endemics restricted to other habitats.

本研究对特兰西瓦尼亚（Transylvania）山区的7个采样区域内的43处森林样地开展采样，以获取各样地的蜗牛类动物区系（snail faunas）名录，并与喀尔巴阡山脉沿线更北部的同类样地的动物区系进行对比。采样区域范围北至临近乌克兰边境的区域，西南至雷泰扎特（Retezat）山地。本次调查共记录到83个蜗牛物种，单处样地的物种数介于19至40种之间。同一采样区域内的样地所共享的物种数多于不同区域样地间的共享物种数，但不同区域间的区系差异与样地间的地理距离并无关联。此类差异更多与生态因子相关，而非地理因素。所有采样区域的蜗牛类动物区系均与波兰及乌克兰喀尔巴阡山区记录的区系高度相似；与北部这类区系的距离对相似性水平几乎无影响。从更宏观的视角来看，这些森林的蜗牛类动物区系与北部国家的同类区系亲缘关系更近，而与南部国家的区系亲缘关系较远。尽管这些森林在更新世末次冰期得以存续，且更临近潜在的地中海避难所（Mediterranean refugia），但本次调查所获的区系似乎主要是北部区域所记录区系的一个子集。该类区系仅占罗马尼亚已知蜗牛类动物区系的极小一部分，而罗马尼亚已知区系中包含诸多仅分布于其他生境的特有物种。