Brawley’s periwinkle research cited in Kennebec Journal column
Research by Susan Brawley, a professor of plant biology at the University of Maine, was cited in the Kennebec Journal’s latest Backyard Naturalist column, “Remembering the invasive periwinkles.” Periwinkles belong to a class of mollusks with spiral shells. They have soft bodies and a head inside the permanent univalve shell, as opposed to bivalves such as clams, scallops and mussels, according to the article. The first report of their presence in North America was near Pictou, Nova Scotia, in the 1840s, the article states. According to a study led by Brawley, they appear to have come from Ireland and Scotland, probably on ballast rock picked up in Britain and discharged in the Maritimes, or they could have been deliberately transplanted for food. They expanded their new range rapidly, and are now found from Labrador to Delaware, the article states.