LARVAL STAGES OF TREMATODES IN FRESHWATER SNAILS OF THE CHORNOBYL ZONE OF RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION

Abstract

In 1986, at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Exclusion Zone after an industrial accident, ecosystems began to have several features that distinguish them from the objects of the natural reserve fund. Parasitic systems are an informative indicator of the state of the ecosystem, which is now sporadically applied in the Exclusion Zone. Any change in the parasite population can lead to changes in the host population. The degree of imbalance in the “parasite-host” system depends on the strength and nature of the influence of external factors. At the same time, the presence of mutual adaptations of parasitic organisms and snails gives grounds to consider the “parasitehost” system comprehensively. Freshwater gastropod snails of various systematic groups, which can be intermediate and secondary hosts for trematode agents, were selected as an object of the study. In order to study freshwater gastropod snails for the presence of larval stages of helminths, snails were collected from such locations as Krasne Lake, Ilya River, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant cooling pond, bypass channel of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant cooling pond, left bank of the Prypiat floodplain, Koshevka oxbow lake, Hrubchanskyi canal in the Meshevo village. Based on the results of the research, the presence of larval stages of trematode agents at different stages of their development (redia and metacercaria) parasitizing in the freshwater snails Lymnae stagnalis and Radix auricularia was established

Keywords

• freshwater snails
• trematodes
• larval stages
• chornobyl exclusion zone