Morphological Variation between Life and Death Gastropod Populations in the Nile Delta: A Pollution-Induced Evolution

• Published in: Water (Basel) Vol. 15; no. 23; p. 4078
• Main Authors: Abdelhady, Ahmed Awad, Husain, Ali M., Samy-Kamal, Mohamed, Ahmed, Mohamed S., Alexakis, Dimitrios E., Ali, Ahmed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-12-2023
• Subjects: Analysis; Climate change; coastal ecosystems; Drainage; Ecosystems; gastropod shells; geometric morphometrics; Heavy metals; Industrial development; Lakes; Morphology; Nile Delta; phenetic diversity; Pollution; Sediments; Shells; Surface water; water pollution; Water quality; Water shortages; China; Egypt; Beijing China; Lake Manzala; Nile River
• ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w15234078

Wetland ecosystems of the Nile Delta face severe threats due to natural climatic changes and anthropogenic activities. Life and death assemblage comparisons can be implemented as a historical record to detect anthropogenic-induced environmental changes in the past few decades. A geometric morphometric approach was applied to quantify the pollution-induced morphological variation between life and death populations of the gastropod Melanoides tuberculata. The results indicated that life populations differ significantly from the death ones, where the first tend to be much smaller, more globular, and with a depressed aperture and whorl section. In addition, the phenetic diversity of the life populations was also decreased, and the allometric growth was shifted. These morphological changes in the life populations are well-known adaptations for reducing the cost of shell maintenance in polluted water. No distinct morphospace was found between life populations from different habitats, suggesting that habitats have no significant role in the current pollution-induced evolution.