The current state of biodiversity studies in Nigeria

Abstract

Biodiversity is fast declining especially in African countries like Nigeria with paucity of data. This study was conducted to quantify biodiversity studies in Nigeria available on the Web of Science database. Data were collected from the Web of Science core collection from 1970-2020 with the inclusion of “Biodiversity” as the search term. Of the 141, 781 global research on Biodiversity, 155 (0.1%) were conducted in Nigeria. Ecology and Environmental Science Journal were the top leading Web of Science subject category, both with 34 published articles, followed by Biodiversity Conservation (21) and Plant Science (19). Bergi et al., (2007) is the most cited article with forty-nine (49) number of citations. University of Ibadan and Luiselli L. were the affiliation and author with the highest of number of published articles on biodiversity in Nigeria respectively. Overall, there is an increasing trend of biodiversity research in Nigeria over the years. However, in comparison to the global research in biodiversity and considering the rate of biodiversity loss both locally and globally, there is a need for more biodiversity research in Nigeria. Wildlife managers and Conservationist should pay more attention to biodiversity research in Nigeria.