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It rained at night and, first thing in the morning, it was lovely to see the variety and quantity of snails of different sizes walking through the grass of the cloister of the Pedralbes monastery in Barcelona.
For this report in La Mirada del Lector de La Vanguardia I have taken some small snails and put them inside a flower to take pictures with the cloister in the background.
Snails showing off.
I share the images with the rest of the readers. There is so much beauty in the Pedralbes cloister! You can always be surprised by new details.
From this photo session this question arose: Why is the snail so important to keep our garden healthy?
Snails on a flower in the garden of the Pedralbes monastery.
The answer I have found in a scientific article by Dr. María José Parra, Director of the Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine and Science of the San Sebastián University.
The expert affirms that “the garden snail has an important role in the ecosystem, forming a basal part of the food chains, being the link between plants (primary producers) and carnivores (consumers)”.
Snails from the Pedralbes garden.
“In simpler words, the snail is food for other animals: birds like the thrush and small insectivores like the ground hedgehog,” he explains.
Another important ecosystem function that snails perform in our garden is carried out in the soil, “since their movement allows aeration, formation and fertilization of the soil, something similar to what is done by earthworms”.
Snails on a flower.
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