Bellamya purificata mitigate the impact of Pomacea canaliculata through gut microbial changes in rice-snail co-culture system

The rice–snail coculture system represents a resource-efficient and high-yielding agroecological model. However, invasion by the exotic species Pomacea canaliculata disrupts its ecological equilibrium. This study examined the influences of P. canaliculata on the Dietary Composition and microbiota of the native snail Bellamya purificata under monoculture (control) and co-culture (invasion stress) conditions during 30-day and 60-day cultivation periods. Results indicate that both the cultivation condition and duration significantly modified the Dietary Composition of B. purificata at the genus level. At 30 days, the co-cultured B. purificata group exhibited no significant difference ( p > 0.05) in gut microbial abundance compared to the mono-culture group, while demonstrating decidedly increased α-diversity and distinctly altered community structure ( p < 0.05). The relative abundance of Acinetobacter was remarkably increased ( p < 0.05), whereas multiple beneficial bacterial taxa were significantly decreased ( p < 0.05). Functional prediction analysis revealed dramatically enhanced enrichment of neurodegenerative disease pathways ( p < 0.05) but considerably reduced enrichment in immune disease pathways and signal molecule interaction pathways ( p < 0.05). At 60 days, comparative analysis between B. purificata co-culture and mono-culture groups revealed no significant differences in gut microbial abundance, α-diversity, and community structure ( p > 0.05). However, the relative abundances of the phyla Bacteroidota , Actinobacteriota , and Planctomycetota were appreciably upregulated ( p < 0.05). Genera including Aeromonas and Cloacibacterium also exhibited notably increased relative abundances ( p < 0.05). Conversely, the relative abundances of genera such as Enterobacter and Enterococcus were notably downregulated ( p < 0.05). Functional prediction analysis further demonstrated greatly enhanced enrichment in cellular motility pathways and cell community-prokaryotic pathways ( p < 0.05). These results indicate that although stress from P. canaliculata exerted a significant short-term negative impact on B. purificata , regulatory adaptations through gut microbial changes attenuated this adverse effect following prolonged exposure.