Abstract
To assess changes in the fauna of freshwater mollusks in the Gharb Plain (Morocco), 200 sites spread over five districts were surveyed between May 2012 and May 2013. A total of 11 species were identified. Physella acuta and Melanopsis praemorsa were most frequently encountered. Bulinus truncatus, an intermediate host of schistosomiasis in Morocco, and Planorbarius metidjensis, an intermediate host of schistosomiasis, were not harvested. The absence of these species may be due to a combination of climatic, biological and anthropogenic factors related to the changes that have occurred in the region.
Highlights
There are approximately 6000 freshwater mollusk species described in the world [1]
The community in the rivers was dominated by the genus Melanopsis as follows: 1. At Oued Mda in the commune of Karia Ben Aouda, Melanopsis praemorsa and Melanopsis scalaris were dominant with relative abundances varying between 24 and 65% for Melanopsis praemorsa and between 17 and 44% for Melanopsis scalaris; 2
In the Gharb region (Morocco), which was the area of our study, the combination of climatic, biological and anthropogenic factors led to a change in the distribution and composition of freshwater mollusks
Summary
There are approximately 6000 freshwater mollusk species described in the world [1]. There are approximately 350 species of gastropods in the world with medical or veterinary importance, including three main genera acting as intermediate hosts of schistosomes parasitizing humans [3] as follows: Biomphalaria (Preston, 1910), Bulinus (Müller, 1781) and Oncomelania (Gredler, 1881). With more than 24 freshwater species, the Gharb region is one of the richest regions in Morocco in terms of diversity [4,5,6]. This region is characterized by a diversity of natural aquatic environments ranging from large rivers to wetlands. The number of wetlands and Merja (swamps) that provide a habitat favoring mollusks has been reduced by water projects related to the management of the agricultural plains
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