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

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Macrophytes
• diversity indices
• water properties
• medical malacology

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).