Diversity and Distribution of Aquatic Snails in the Upper Bandama Fauna and Flora Reserve (Northcenter Côte d'Ivoire)

The Upper-Bandama fauna and flora Reserve is a 122,162 ha protected area which is threatened by the anthropogenic activities. This study aimed to highlight its functioning with the use of freshwater snails in the Bamdama watercourse. The sampling was carried out between January 2018 and February 2019 using a kick net and Van Veen grab on twelve stations. A total of 762 individuals of Gastropods and Bivalves belonging to 22 taxa, 9 Orders and 12 Families were collected. In Gastropods, the Planorbidae family was most diversified with 05 taxa and in Bivalves Sphaeriidae was most diversified with 02 taxa. Melanoides tuberculata (Thiaridae) and Biomphalaria pfeifferi (Planorbidae) where the most abundant in Bamdama (respectively 22.86 and 17.68%) and in Nambyon rivers (26.19 and 22.62%). On the other hand, Biomphalaria pfeifferi and Tomichia ventricosa (Tomichidae) with each 17.64% of the total abundances where dominants in the ponds. In general, the redundancy analysis shows that turbidity and conductivity are the parameters that most influence the distribution of snails. The strong presence of the invasive species Melanoides tuberculata in the hydrosystems of the reserve could be a brake on the diversity of local malacological fauna, hence the need for monitoring of the snails communities of this reserve