Ecoanatomical Affiliation of Halophyte in Hydrocarbon Polluted Sites in Parts of Bodo Coastal Creeks, Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The increasing demand for energy supply and revenue has led to an ever increasing oil exploration and exploitation in parts of the Niger Delta, Nigeria. This has also led to an increase in hydrocarbon pollution leading to the destruction of the plant and animal ecosystems in parts of Rivers State. This study was aimed at investigating the impact of hydrocarbon pollution on the stem and root anatomy of a special group of plants- “Halophytes” present in polluted and unpolluted areas of Bodo Creek, Gokana in Ogoni land Rivers State. The result reveal diverse structural aberrations and challenges involving the species inability to pick up stains thereby limiting the clarity of focus, conversion of air/intercellular spaces into vacuoles filled with oil, rearrangement of the vascular bundles, thickening of the sclerenchyma cells, damage of vital parts of stem and root tissues as well as shrinkage and detachment of cortex from the epidermis leading to the reduction of the air compartments. All these are the anatomical distortion associated with the impact on hydrocarbon pollution on the internal structures of these halophytes when compared with the structures of sections in the controlled unpolluted site.