Plants Species Diversity along River Benue Bank under the Influence of Siltation and Solid Waste Effluents, Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

This research was aimed at assessing plants diversity, under the influence of siltation and solid waste effluents along the River Benue bank, Shinko area in Yola North Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria. Three plots of 20 m × 20 m were randomly established at the solid waste, silt solid waste, silted and no-silt; no-waste areas. A quadrat of 1 m × 1 m was laid at random to determine the population of plant species in each plot. The results of the population of plant species in the various sites revealed that, 10 plant species occurred at the solid waste area (SWA), 7 species at silt waste area (SSW), 12 plant species at silted area (SA) and 31 plant species at no-silt; no-waste area (NSW). Shannon-Wiener’s diversity index was used to analyse species diversity in the various sampling locations. Shannon-Wiener’s diversity indexes in the various sites were approximately 1.985, 1.788, 2.140 and 3.125 at SWA, SSW, SA and NSW respectively. The result obtained indicates high uncertainties; as each species are relatively distributed within SWA, SSW, SA and NSW areas. The results indicated that there were significant differences at P ≥ 0.05 as (p-value = 0.183377) in plant species among the study sites. Axonopus compressus had the highest occurrence in 3 of the study areas, except for the silted area.