Integrated control of snails

Abstract

Snails are vectors of several important diseases and parasites of man, especially schistosomiasis. They can be killed with chemicals such as copper chloride, sodium pentachlorophenate, organic tin derivatives, or niclosamide. Biological control methods include the use of predators such as crayfish, leeches, other snails, ducks, or geese, and the use of parasites such as nematodes and certain Protozoa. Management, practices have also been recommended. These include cleaning ditches, building them with concrete sides or covering them so that plants - the food of snails - will not grow in them, or draining ditches periodically to kill the snails. However, some molluscicides may kill the nitrogen-fixing algae which help fertilize rice paddies, and thermal pollution may raise the temperature of streams and estuaries in the temperate zone enough so that tropical and subtropical schistosomes may be able to propagate. More research is needed to develop the ideal methods of controlling snails. © 1970 by the American Society of Zoologists.