THE VARIED ROLES OF SNAILS - National Universities Commission

Birds Various ducks
Storks
Kites
Other birds.
(iii) Nutrient recycling
From this stand point, snails play important roles in the
recycling of materials from the producers to the consumers’
levels of the food chain in an ecosystem. Due to their litter
feeding habits they recycle minerals from plant tissues to
the soil thus improving soil fertility.
Snails are endowed with a lot of enzymes including
cellulases which allows them to play a major role in
primary decomposition of plant materials. The
mucoproteins in snail faeces and slime are useful in binding
soil particles thus according to Newell (1967) they help in
the development of crumb structure of the soils.
The burrowing activities of snails like those of annelids
permit easy air movement inside the soil. Malek (1982)
stated that the presence of food increases the biotic
potential of snails in that more eggs are laid whole maturity
attainment is rapid with a gross enhancement of growth. He
also showed that snails help pollute their habitats by
dumping waste materials, by the accumulation of large
quantities of organic materials of vegetables or animal
origin. They also dump industrial wastes into the habitats.
It has been reported that cases of helicine snail poisoning
have been found in man when noxious content of the snail
alimentary tracts were not removed before the snails are
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