Freshwater Molluscs of India: An Insight of into Their Diversity, Distribution and Conservation - Aquatic Ecosystem: Biodiversity, Ecology and Conservation - page 158

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Freshwater Molluscs of India:
An Insight of into Their Diversity,
Distribution and Conservation

Basudev Tripathy and Amit Mukhopadhayay

Abstract
Freshwater molluscs are integral part of aquatic ecosystem and play an
important role in the biogeochemical cycle. There are many species which
are distributed both in estuarine and freshwater ecosystem. However, the
endemicity is high in the Western Ghats and northeastern parts of India.
Also, there are intra-variations among species that make freshwater
Mollusca important in terms of taxonomy. This chapter deals with thor-
ough detailing about the available information on freshwater gastropods
and bivalves of India with their economic importance and medical value as
well as taxonomic detailing on the status and conservation and manage-
ment of the freshwater molluscs and their habitats in India.

Keywords
Mollusca ￿ Diversity ￿ Endemism ￿ Western Ghats ￿ Conservation ￿ India

Introduction

Ponder 1994 ; Seddon 1998 ; Strong et al. 2008 ).
Bivalves in particular, as they accumulate toxic
substances to a greater extent than other organ-
isms, are used to monitor water quality (Salanki
et al. 2003 ; Bogan 2008 ).
Freshwater molluscs are essential to the main-
tenance of wetland ecosystems, primarily due to
their control of water quality and nutrient balance
through fi lter-feeding and algal-grazing and, to a
lesser degree, as a food source for predators
including a number of fi sh species, and in some
parts of the world, they compose a signifi cant
food resource, especially for the rural poor and
tribal. In some regions, they are one of the most
threatened groups of freshwater taxa (Kay 1995 ).

Molluscs are an important group for aquatic bio-
diversity and, where abundant, play an important
role in ecosystem functioning (Vaughn et al.
2004 ). They form an important component of
most biological monitoring programmes that rate
water quality and status of aquatic systems
based on invertebrate assemblages (Tonapi 1980 ;