THE VARIED ROLES OF SNAILS - National Universities Commission

cornuarietis or of flatworms as biological control
agents.
The snails have a voracious appetite. Some people
introduce the snails in their rice and maize farms to
eat up the weeds in their farms. The dangers in this
however, are that the introduced snails can in a short
time, reach such enormous numbers and become
serious conservation problem, or eat up native plant
species modifying the habitat and they out compete
native snails.
Finally the snails can be used as pets, can be used to
teach about native fauna, and for other educational
purposes on a state by state basis, as nature facilities
in teaching biodiversity and for physiological and
drug research.
6. CONTROL OF SNAILS
Snails are an important part of many ecosystems
constituting a major portion of the total animal
biomass. They are food for other animals but some
snails are predators themselves, many consume dead
and dying plant material and therefore they are
important in the cycling of nutrients through the
ecosystems. Other species of snails carry diseases
such as schistosomiasis, angiostrongyliasis,
dicrocoeliasis, etc that infect man while some
species have become crop pests. They are also
incriminated in habitat destruction and modification.
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