The Effects of the Provo Rivers Health on the Population of Gilled Snails (Gastropada lymnaea) Laurel C.

Anderson, 761 East 820 North Apt. 231, Provo, Utah 84604, October 2013, Email: laurela@ifiber.tv Abstract: Gastropoda lymnaea, also known as Gilled Snails are an aquatic macroinvertebrate that can be used to help determine the health of a water system, such as the Provo River in Provo, Utah. They are a species which is sensitive to pollution in the water and requires there to be enough dissolved oxygen in the water to thrive. Aquatic species were gathered from square meter areas of the river and placed into vials for later examination and identification during labs that took place September 24 and October 1, 2013. During these labs experiments were conducted to evaluate the over-all health of the Provo River and use this data to find a correlation between the health of the water and its effects on the population of Gilled Snails (Gastropoda lymnaea) as compared to other species. The health of the Provo River was found to be rated 3.1158 on the bioindicator scale which translates to the water being in a fair condition. The sample richness was also found to be low as 17 out of the 26 specimens within the test vial were Gilled Snails. From this it was concluded that the species Gastropoda lymnaea, or Gilled Snails, tend to thrive in water that is in a poorer condition, mainly being a fair condition on the bioindicator scale. Though, once beyond this point the populations again begin to decrease due to too poor of water conditions. Key Words: Diversity, fair health, macroinvertebrates, sensitive species Introduction: Rivers and streams give birth to a great diversity of life. Though this diversity of life is affected by the overall health of the river. One such species that is affected by the over-all health of the river is Gastropoda lymnaea, commonly known as Gilled Snails. They are approximately 1 to 3 cm in length and have a coiled shell that comes to a point. They are not to be confused with Gastropoda physa, another snail variety that lives within the Provo River. The shell of Gastropoda physa points to the left, the opposite direction of which the Gastropoda lymnaea points. Gilled Snails are considered to be a sensitive macroinvertebrate (University of Virginia, 1999). This means that they thrive in environments that have high amounts of oxygen dissolved
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in the water in which they reside. From this we can tell that they do not do well in highly polluted areas that deal with a lack of dissolved oxygen within the water, but it is yet to be known in what circumstance they flourish the most. Gastropoda lymnaea have been shown to live in various aquatic habitats. They have been found in shallow ponds in Southern Alberta (Boag, 1979), wetlands in Florida (University of Virginia, 1999), the Provo River in Utah, and various other places. The macroinvertebrate Gastropoda lymnaea thrive in water environments in which the water quality is fair as compared to other degrees of water quality. Methods and Materials: For this study trips were taken down to the Prove River in Provo, Utah to collect specimens living in the river to measure the health of said river. The macroinvertebrates were collected in areas the size of 1 square meter. These macroinvertebrates were then placed in vials filled with ethanol to preserve their bodies for later examination. There were two trips total taken to the river to collect the specimens. These trips were held on two different weekends in the month of September. The vials were then used in the macroinvertebrate lab, done on September 24, 2013 and October 1, 2013 at 6:00-7:00pm to identify which species each macroinvertebrate belonged to and what its name was. This was done using the Freshwater Aquatic Invertebrate Identification Guide by Dr. Riley Nelson. Descriptions within this guide were used to identify the different species, and the invertebrates name, within the vial. If details were needed a field microscope was used to study the specimen in detail. The names of the different specimens were then recorded along with the total number within each type of organism. This data was then compared to the CRWN Macroinvertebrate Assessment Form to sort the different organisms into groups that reflect the health of the Provo River. Once all the organisms were sorted into categories the bioindicator score was calculated and used to find the
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overall health of the river. These results were then compared to the number of Gilled Snails (Gastrapoda lyymnaea) found in the vial. Other data was used to find the number (or possibility of numbers) within other degrees of health to find the correlation between the health of the river and the population of the Gilled Snails. Results: Within the vial examined by my macroinvertebrate lab group, we identified 17 specimens out of the 26 in the vial to be Gilled Snails (Gastrapoda lymnaea) (Table 2). The structure of their bodies was a single piece hard shell, coiled in a right-handed form, with a length between 1 and 3cm as seen in figure 1. This showed, that according to our vial, the population of the Gilled Snails was high in the Provo River. Approximately 65% of the vial we examined were Gilled Snails. They belonged to the third group of the CRWN Macroinvertebrate Assessment Form . After careful calculations, we found the health of the Provo River to be 3.1158, which means that the water is in a fair condition. It is the third tier of the bioindicator scale and is 0.3843 points off from making the water in poor condition. The sample richness was also rather low as we had a total of 26 organisms, yet only 5 different types of organisms. This is low compared to others that had sample richness ranging from 8 to 11 with similar numbers of organisms (Nelson, C. R. 2013, personal communication). As previously mentioned there were 17 total Gilled Snails, while there were three or less of all the other species examined within our groups vial. Others also had high rates of Gilled Snails within their vials. One such group had a total of 24 Gilled Snails in their vial (Table 1). The total number of organisms in this vial was 32 specimens, making the Gilled Snails 75% of the organisms within the vial.

Discussion: After reviewing the results and comparing to other possibilities, I found that Gilled Snails (Gastrapoda lymnaea) tend to thrive in unhealthier water, namely water that is considered to have a fair health level. In our vial 65% of the macroinvertebrates were Gilled Snails, they by far were the most common in the vial. Their numbers were over 500% of those that had the second highest population. It could be said that these results do not directly reflect the true populations of the river, but after having examined several other groups results, it can be seen that the population of Gilled Snails is similar to the results that my group found. The high population of the Gilled Snails caused the low score in sample richness. The best environment for the population of Gilled Snails to grow is in fair conditions, once conditions reach poor, their numbers begin to decrease as compared to other specimens. Gilled Snails are found in the third group on the CRWN Macroinvertebrate Assessment Form, this means that they tend to be higher in population when the river is at fair health. This is because they are a sensitive species. They can only survive in areas where dissolved oxygen is high (University of Virginia, 1999). Though Gilled Snails are less common when the river is in excellent health, a bit more common when at good health, common at fair, and about equal when at poor. Through this study we can learn more about Gilled Snails overall. We can learn where their populations thrive and more about their living environments. Future studies can take this concept and learn more about what the snails use as a food source and if this food source is also directly related to the population of the environment, in the same way that Gilled Snails are. Also from knowing that Gilled Snails live in water that is fair in condition, we can evaluate the health of water by examining the population of Gilled Snails within that water system and compare that to the populations of other species. From finding the health of waterways, such as we did for the Provo River, we can

examine whether it is a good source of water for human use or any dangers that might come from using said water. Acknowledgements: Thank you to Dr. Nelson, the TAs, and class members who took time out of their schedules to collect specimens from the river. Without their work this research would not have been possible. Also thank you to Emily Fuller and Jacey Wahlquist, my lab partners. Without their help I would not have been able to identify all the organisms and get the findings that helped lead to these results. A final thank you to all the TAs who volunteered in the labs so that we, as students, could have help in knowing what was required for the lab and have help identifying specimens that were difficult to determine.

Appendix: Table 1: A chart showing the total number of Gastropoda lymnaea found by other groups (Nelson, C. R. 2013, personal communication)
Jessica, Maddie, Alyssa, Kelsey and group 1 Bradely Thurs Wed 5-6 11-12 pm Tuesday Group 1 (67) Kelsey, Emilie, Christian, David

Abigail's Group: Fri Wed 10311am: 4pm Ivan

Lymnaea

Dr. Nelson adds a column and row folks, add the 24 numbers

Amanda, Tuesday Tressie, Group 5-6pm Isabel: 3, etc Group 4 Mon 9:00

12

1-3 cm

Figure 1: An example of Gastropoda lymnaea (Anderson, 2008)

Table 2: A table depicting the specimens found in my groups vial and the number of specimens belonging to each. Specimen Name Number of Specimen Gastropoda lymnaea 17 Gastropoda physa 1 Hempitera limnoporus 3 Assellus aquatiaus 3 Oligochaeta asellidae 2

Literature cited: Anderson, R. (2008): Annotated List of the Non-Marine Mollusca of Britain and Ireland Boag, D.A., 1979, On the life cycle of Lymnaea stagnalis (Pulmonata: Gastropoda) in southwestern Alberta Nelson, C. R. 2006, Freshwater Aquatic Invertebrate Identification Guide Nelson, C. R. 2013, personal communication Nelson, C. R. and Field Biology Class, C. R. 2006, rapid bioassessment american fork river University of Virginia, 1999. Macroinvertebrates That Are Sensitive to Pollution