Abstract
Aquatic plants are important in freshwater ecosystems. They provide food, shelter, spawning and nursery grounds for fish. They are usually found at the littoral parts of freshwater ecosystems. The abundance, distribution and diversity of aquatic plant of Ikere-gorge, Iseyin, Nigeria were examined between January 2017 and December 2018. There are twelve fishing villages in Ikere-gorge and four villages were randomly selected. Aquatic plants were sampled and collected with the help of hired fishermen. The collected aquatic plant samples were identified at the Forest Herbarium of the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria with appropriate keys. This work identified 13 families and 23 species of aquatic plants. Cyperaceae family recorded the highest (4) number of individual species while Salvinia molesta had the highest abundance in all the sampling sites. The ecological classification of the aquatic plants showed that 14 species are emergent; 7 species floating and 3 species submerged. Site C had the most abundance (9220) of aquatic plants, followed by site D (8490), site B (8130) and site A (7940). The gamma (γ) and beta (β) diversities were 23 and 0.01 respectively. The alpha (α) diversity included Dominance (0.08), Simpson (0.92) and Shannon-Wiener (2.72) respectively. These results show that Salvinia molesta and Najas guadalupensis are the most and least abundant aquatic plants in Ikere-gorge respectively; which may be due to their ecological status. Moreover, management of aquatic plants is an integral part of fisheries management for sustainable fisheries. Therefore, their management is essential for the maintenance of aquatic biodiversity.
 Key words: aquatic plants, diversity, emergent, floating, submerged
Highlights
According to USAID (2015), freshwater diversity includes the species that depend upon freshwater ecosystems for one or more components of their life cycles, including plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, crustaceans, mammals, and birds
This study showed that Cyperaceae family recorded the highest (4) number of individual species. This is in agreement with Dienye and Olopade (2017) who reported that Cyperaceae and Poaceae families had the highest species with four species each in Oyan Lake, Ogun State, Nigeria
This study identified Cyperaceae family as emergent aquatic plants, it can be found in freshwater ecosystem as floating and submerged aquatic plants
Summary
According to USAID (2015), freshwater diversity includes the species that depend upon freshwater ecosystems for one or more components of their life cycles, including plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, crustaceans, mammals, and birds. Inland water biodiversity generally includes all life forms that depend upon inland water habitat for things other than drinking (or transpiration in plants). Moderate abundance of aquatic plants in the freshwater ecosystem supports fish production; they provide shelter or habitat, spawning ground and even food for some fish species and other aquatic organisms (Dienye, 2015). Aquatic plants support primary production, stabilizing sediments, maintaining water clarity, and providing quality habitat for zooplankton, macro invertebrates, and numerous fish species
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