ACADEMIA Letters No competitive interactions detected in freshwater snail species of prairie wetlands Bruce Stephen, Unity College Introduction Since the analysis of the Bismarck Archipelago bird species, checkerboard species have been used as evidence for competition (Diamond, 1975). The idea is that if competition organizes species within a system, then it is expected that non-competitive species form assemblages and specifc species pairs, if direct competitors, would not inhabit the same area (a checkerboard species). One hypothesis that accounts for diferences in species assemblages in similar habitat types, is that the frst of a morphologic type to reach a locale gets the competitive advantage and tends to keep others of similar morph, or a direct competitor, from establishing a hold (Pimm, 1991). There, however, has been debate on species competition, particularly on the methods of testing for interactions (Connor &Simberlof, 1979, Harveyet al.,1983, Gotelli & Graves, 1996; Edward, et al., 2013). Despite the potential drawbacks, analysis of appropriate datasets may provide some clarity as to the complex interactions of competition. Freshwater snails are primarily algae grazers responsible for passing energy through aquatic systems (Newbold et al., 1983; Richardson et al., 1988). These important grazers are broadly distributed, inhabiting nearly any type of water bodies (Dillon, 2000). Available calcium, and related variables such as pH and alkalinity, is the major limiting factor to freshwater snail presence (Dillon, 2000). Besides calcium and pH, the distribution of specifc species fresh- water snail is sometimes linked to a wetland type, but broad overlap of species occurs and the specifc reason for the presence, or absences, of a snail species within a wetland are often not clear. Competitive interactions were found between freshwater snails and tadpoles (Brön- Academia Letters, August 2021 Corresponding Author: Bruce Stephen, bstephen@mac.com Citation: Stephen, B. (2021). No competitive interactions detected in freshwater snail species of prairie wetlands. Academia Letters, Article 2790. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2790. 1 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0