Soil vegetation status of a forest fragment in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

As efforts are geared towards preventing the utter destruction of our ecosystem and ensuring the conservation of our rich biodiversity, adequate quantitative and qualitative ecological data of the flora and fauna species are imperative. Accordingly, the status of phytodiversity and pedological properties were assessed in a tropical forest fragment namely Mkpok Village Forest (MVF) in Akwa Ibom State (AKS). This was with a view to providing insights into its environmental determinants; as well as baseline for the management and conservation of the forest fragment. Systematic sampling method was used to sample the vegetation using a quadrat size of 10 m x 10 m. The frequency, density, height, basal area and crown cover of plant species encountered were determined. Twelve composite soil samples were collected and analyzed for pedological properties (soil pH, texture and chemical constituents) using standard analytical procedures. Forty-two plant species belonging to thirty families were encountered. Family Fabaceae had the highest number of 6 plant species followed by Meliaceae, Arecaceae, and Euphorbiaceae with 3 plant species each. The tallest and shortest tree species were Piptadeniastrum africanum (22.91 ± 2.33 m) and Cannarium schweinfurthii (2.00 ± 0.51 m). Shannon-Wiener and Simpson diversity indices of 2.88 and 0.90 were recorded respectively. Pedological analyses revealed that in MVF the soils were moderately acidic and highly sandy, having low concentrations of some plant nutrients. Correlation analysis indicated relationships between some vegetation parameters and soil chemical constituents (p=0.05). It is concluded that the forest was not structurally complex as expected of a tropical rainforest partly due to anthropogenic activities but possessed attributes of a typical rainforest of Nigeria thus reinforced the hope that this forest fragment if preserved can return to its primary status.