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Sediment ingestion in the invasive apple snail Pomacea canaliculata

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Abstract

Sediment represents both a habitat and a trophic resource for many aquatic organisms, commonly known as deposit feeders. One of the most important freshwater invaders around the world is the polyphagous and opportunistic apple snail Pomacea canaliculata, in which deposit feeding has not been reported. Our aims were to study the frequency of sediment ingestion at different seasons in four watercourses within its natural range and to evaluate, under laboratory conditions, the relevance of this trophic resource for growth and survival of hatchlings and juveniles. Sediment ingestion showed very high (80–100%) and similar frequencies in snails from different waterbodies and at different seasons. This trophic behaviour was also recorded in laboratory experiments which allowed hatchlings to survive longer and to grow faster and in the case of juveniles to maintain their live weights with a high level of activity. Sediment ingestion by P. canaliculata juveniles also reduces organic matter content in the sediment. Sediment ingestion represents an alternative feeding behaviour for this apple snail whose relevance increases when other trophic resources are absent or scarce. This may help young individuals to survive and populations to persist during food shortages, increasing the chances of invasion. The reduction by P. canaliculata of the organic matter content in the sediments could alter the biogeochemical processes occurring in them and enhances the role of this apple snail as an ecosystem engineer in aquatic environments.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analysed in the present research are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

LS and PRM are researchers and EM is a posdoctoral fellow in CONICET. This work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (PIP 11220170100236CO), Universidad Nacional del Sur (PGI 24B/232) and Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación (PICT 2012-1956). We wish to thank Mara Maldonado for her help with field work and to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and constructive criticisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GECEMAC (Grupo de Ecología, Comportamiento y Evolución de Moluscos de Aguas Continentales), INBIOSUR (UNS-CONICET), San Juan 671, 8000, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Lucía Saveanu, Enzo Manara & Pablo Rafael Martín

  2. Laboratorio de Ecología, Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional del Sur, San Juan 670, 8000, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Lucía Saveanu & Pablo Rafael Martín

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  1. Lucía Saveanu
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  2. Enzo Manara
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LS and PRM: conceptualization, data sampling, sample analysis, statistical analyses and interpretation, writing, reviewing and editing; EM: data sampling, sample analysis, reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Pablo Rafael Martín.

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Communicated by Télesphore Sime-Ngando.

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Saveanu, L., Manara, E. & Martín, P.R. Sediment ingestion in the invasive apple snail Pomacea canaliculata. Aquat Ecol 57, 433–442 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-023-10020-2

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