It is well-documented that marsh periwinkles (Littoraria irrorata) consume and inhabit smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), but their interactions with big cordgrass (Spartina cynosuroides) remain unknown. Plant communities in mesohaline marshes will change as sea-level rise shifts species from salt-intolerant (e.g., S. cynosuroides) plants to salt-tolerant (e.g., S. alterniflora) ones. Therefore, understanding how L. irrorata interacts with different habitats provides insight into this species’ generalist nature and allows us to predict the potential impacts of changing plant communities on L. irrorata. We show, for the first time, that L. irrorata inhabits, climbs, and grazes S. cynosuroides. We compared both habitats and found snails were larger, plant tissue was tougher, and sediment surface temperatures were higher in S. alterniflora than S. cynosuroides. Snails had greater survivorship from predators in S. cynosuroides than in S. alterniflora. Further, snails grazed S. cynosuroides more than S. alterniflora, evidenced by a greater number of radulation scars. Despite these differences, snail densities were equal between habitats suggesting functional redundancy between S. cynosuroides and S. alterniflora for L. irrorata. Our results indicate L. irrorata is a habitat generalist that uses both S. alterniflora and S. cynosuroides, which may allow it to gain an ecological foothold as sea-level rises.

有充分的文献记载，沼泽长春花（Littoraria irrorata）食用并栖息于光滑的草皮草（Spartina alterniflora）中，但是它们与大草皮草（Spartina cynosuroides）的相互作用仍然未知。在mesohaline湿地植物群落将海平面上升的变化物种盐不耐受（例如，改变S. cynosuroides）植物耐盐性（例如，互花米草）的。因此，了解鸢尾草如何与不同的生境相互作用可以深入了解该物种的通才性质，并使我们能够预测不断变化的植物群落对鸢尾草的潜在影响。我们第一次表明L. irrorata栖息，攀登，和擦伤S. cynosuroides。我们比较了两种生境，发现互花米草中的蜗牛更大，植物组织更坚硬，沉积物表面温度比猕猴桃高。食蟹链中的食肉动物的蜗牛存活率高于互花葡萄球菌。此外，蜗牛擦过S. cynosuroides超过互花米草，通过radulation疤痕更大数量的证明。尽管存在这些差异，蜗牛密度分别栖息地提示之间功能冗余之间等于S. cynosuroides和互花米草为L. irrorata。我们的结果表明，L。irrorata是一个栖息地通才，它同时使用互花米草和猕猴桃，这可能会使它在海平面上升时获得生态立足点。