Bellamya aeruginosa (Reeve) promote the growth of Elodea nuttallii (Planch.) H. St John in high nutrient environment

AbstractElodea nuttallii (Planch.) H. St John is an invasive alien submerged macrophyte, which grows very fast and dominates in many Chinese waters. Bellamya aeruginosa (Reeve) is a widely distributed benthonic organism in China. This snail species rarely grazes submerged macrophytes and may promote their growth by feeding on epiphyte and phytoplankton. The above two species can commonly be found together in nature waters and their interaction may promote the growth of both species, which could disturb the ecological balance. In this paper, effects of different densities of B. aeruginosa at two different nutrient stages on water quality and the growth of E. nuttallii were studied. The results showed that the growth rates (GRs) of E. nuttallii were not significantly affected by different B. aeruginosa densities in the low nutrient (LN) stage. However, in the high nutrient (HN) stage, the GRs of the aboveground parts of E. nuttallii in the high density (HD) groups were considerably higher than the control (...