200
Views
2
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

The abundance, distribution and diversity of invasive and indigenous freshwater snails in a section of the Ogunpa River, southwest Nigeria

, , &
Pages 222-234 | Received 01 Apr 2021, Published online: 05 Jul 2021
 

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the abundance, distribution and diversity of freshwater snails at four sites in the Ogunpa River, Nigeria from May 2018 to December 2018. A total of 2067 freshwater snails was collected, belonging to two sub-classes, four families, and seven species: Physella acuta, Amerianna carinata, Melanoides tuberculata, Physa waterloti, Bulinus globosus, Bulinus senegalensis, and Lymnaea natalensis. Invasive freshwater snails (82.15%) were more abundant than indigenous species (17.85%). Physella acuta (30.05%) and P. waterloti (20.61%) were the most abundant species, while B. globosus (4.35%) and B. senegalensis (3.92%) were the least abundant. The presence of P. acuta, B. globosus, B. senegalensis, and M. tuberculata constitute potential economic and health risks to animals and humans in contact with this waterbody. Freshwater snail numbers showed variation among sites, seasons, and site-season interactions. Water depth, turbidity, and pH correlated significantly with the numbers of freshwater snails, except that pH did not correlate with P. waterloti. There were strong positive correlations between the numbers of molluscs and the abundance of Commelina diffusa, Amaranthus spinosus, Murdannia nudiflora, and Ipomoea aquatica. Stepwise multiple regression showed that water depth, C. diffusa, and Sacciolepis africana were the primary variables affecting snail distribution and abundance in the Ogunpa River.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the help of Professor A.B. Odaibo in the Department of Zoology, the University of Ibadan, for freshwater snail identification. We recognise the efforts of the anonymous reviewers whose comments have improved the quality of the manuscript. Special thanks to the managing editor of Molluscan Research for his contribution towards improving the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.