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Metabolic Activity of Invasive Apple Snails Negatively Affects the Survival of Native Benthic Snail in Mangrove
by
, ,
Jinling Liu
1
,
Caiying Zhang
1,
Huixiu Yu
1,
Zixin Fu
2,
Huizhen Xie
2,
Yiming Wang
2,*,
Benliang Zhao
2,*,
Qing Li
1,
Kailin Kuang
1 and
Huanting Lin
1 1
College of Biology and Food Engineering, Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou 510303, China
2
College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biology 2025, 14(2), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14020141
Submission received: 6 November 2024
/
Revised: 11 January 2025
/
Accepted: 13 January 2025
/
Published: 29 January 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 2nd Edition: Aquatic Alien Invasions and Their Impact on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services )
Simple Summary
The golden apple snail (GAS) is an invasive gastropod worldwide. The interspecific competition between GAS and native snails in mangrove habitats remains unclear. GAS activity significantly alters the water quality in local habitats, possibly affecting the native benthic snail. We investigated the possible disturbance of GAS metabolic activity on native benthic black helmet snails by measuring the water quality, mortality, growth traits, and hepatopancreas tissue after feeding two local mangrove leaves based on their palatability for GAS. GAS activity significantly deteriorated the water quality in 2.5‰ saline water. GAS feeding on two mangroves decreased the values of pH and DO while increasing the contents of COD, total N, NH4+, NO3−, and total P. The mortality, weight and physiological traits, including GPT, GOT, MDA, and protein, were significantly affected by different dilution ratios (0–100%). Snails exposed to the contaminated water in T1 showed a maximum mortality. Furthermore, the structure of hepatopancreas tissue in the BHS was significantly damaged by the contaminated water from the GAS feeding on holly mangrove. The GAS can compete against the native mangrove snails through water quality deterioration related to the feeding behaviors of different mangrove species.
Abstract
The golden apple snail (GAS, Pomacea canaliculata) has invaded mangrove forests. The effect of water contaminated by metabolic activity of GAS feeding on Acanthus ilicifolius (T1), Sonneratia apetala (T2), and without food (CK) on the native mangrove black helmet snail (BHS, Neritina pulligera) was investigated under salinity conditions. The GAS deteriorated saline water quality (2.5‰). DO contents in T1 and T2 approached zero at 9 d. Compared to CK, the contents of COD, total N, NH4+, NO3−, and total P of the contaminated water in T1 increased by 297%, 205%, 262%, 210%, and 518% after 9 d, while these indicators in T2 increased by 74%, 31%, 57%, 326%, and 154%, respectively. The LC50 of the contaminated water in T1 against the BHS reached 22.72%. The weight of the BHS exposed to the 100% contaminated water in T1 and T2 significantly decreased after exposure. The content of GPT of the BHS exposed to the 100%-contaminated water in T1 and T2 increased by 55% and 26%, while the MDA content increased by 38% and 34%. The 100%-contaminated water in T1 led to cell degeneration and incomplete structure in the hepatopancreas tissue of the BHS. The GAS feeding on holly mangroves can compete against native mangrove snails through water deterioration.
