Impact of Mining of Marine Gastropods Habitat: Basis for Information Education Communication(IEC) for Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

An alarming socio-economic and environmental impact of mining in the Municipality of Carrascal, Surigao del Sur led to this study. It is important to assess the impact of mining on marine habitats and the diversity of gastropods in the area. The collection of gastropods is done in the selected four sampling areas, which include Brgy. Adlay, Brgy. Caglayag, Brgy. Dahican, and Brgy. Gango. Based on the sampling, 228 marine gastropod species were collected, consisting of 53 genera belonging to 10 families. The findings highlight the low diversity of the marine gastropods in the study area as the diversity index is less than 1.99. In addition, the physico-chemical parameter assessment of the study area reveals conditions ranging from slightly alkaline water with low oxygen content to very warm temperatures. These conditions suggest a delicate balance in the aquatic ecosystems, which could be sensitive to changes and affect marine gastropod populations and distributions. With regards to the average concentration of nickel (mg/kg) sediments as a result of the mining activities in the study area, the atomic absorption spectrophotometry result shows that Brgy. Gango is heavily polluted in comparison to other sampling areas. Additionally, the multiple regression analysis reveals that there is a positive and significant association between the nickel concentration and the diversity of gastropods in Brgy. Gango. This could indicate that some gastropod species, specifically those that are found in areas with high nickel concentrations, have acquired tolerance to nickel pollution. However, the regression analysis reveals that in the other sampling sites, such as Brgy. Adlay and Brgy. Caglayag, the presence of nickel sediments as a result of mining activities has a negative and significant impact on the marine habitat and diversity of gastropods. The findings suggest the importance of developing an information education and communication program addressing the negative impacts of mining and promoting environmental sustainability in the research locale.