Eobania vermiculata as a potential indicator of nitrate contamination in soil

Abstract

The effects of nitrates were analysed on the land snail Eobania vermiculata, a good bioindicator to assess the effects of certain pollutants in soil. It is known that the molluscs are very sensitive to contamination substances and can be used as sentinel organism for environmental pollution assessment. The nitrates are present in fertilizers and in food additives and their excess can not only be harmful to the environment but also dangerous for the humans. Indeed, in the mammals the nitrates are converted into nitrites and can cause a series of complications as the formation of methaemoglobin and cancers. In this study, adult organisms of E. vermiculata were exposed to soil containing 2000 mg/L of nitrates for 30 days to evaluate the stool microbiome and the histological changes at the level of the foot. Eggs of these snails were similarly treated to observe their hatching, survival and development. Histological changes were observed at level of the foot of adult snails exposed to nitrate and in their stools was evident an increase of bacteria, especially those that have a high ability to exploit nitrates and nitrogen as nutrients. Instead, the treated eggs showed changes in hatching, hypopigmentation of newborn snails and a decrease of their survival in time. The overall information obtained from these endpoints can provide important information regarding the quality of the environment. In addition, they also showed that the invertebrate organism E. vermiculata despite being a simple organism is very useful and efficient for ecotoxicological studies.