Fish Species as Eco-indicators in the Comparative Ecological Characterisation of two Creeks in the Central Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

Fish species have been used to compare the ecological characteristics of two surface waters in the same geo-ecological zones of the Central Niger Delta. The authors carried out 24 ecological expeditions along the Kolo and Otuoke Creeks in the Study Area for the purpose of comparing the ecological characteristics of these two surface waters that are in the same geo-ecological zone. Duplicate ecological surveys were conducted across three fishing seasons in the Study Area, and the traditional eco-livelihoods knowledge of experienced fishermen was explored during the survey to ensure that the surveys captured the spatial and temporal variation of fish species distribution of these creeks. The result of our study shows that there was no significant statistical ecological differences between the Kolo and Otuoke Creeks based on the following ecological indices: relative species percentage abundance; species richness; species diversity index; Shannon diversity index; and Simpson diversity index. Furthermore, the Bray-Curtis similarity index was used to demonstrate that the two surface waters were ecologically significantly similar. The implication of our findings is that the ecological attributes of surface water in the same geo-ecological zone are not significantly different in the absence of major environmental noise or human induced stress.