Impact of Urbanization on Biodiversity in Some Selected Communities in Andoni LGA, Rivers State, Nigeria
By Hermon G. Ibiso, Obute, G. C., Komi, G. W.
The study assessed the impact of urbanization on biodiversity in some selected communities in Andoni LGA, Rivers State, Nigeria. The selected communities include Ikuru, Ekede, Ebukuma, Ngo, and Oyorokoto which were purposively chosen due to the peculiarity of their vast biodiversity. The study adopted the use of questionnaire for data gathering among 400 respondents randomly selected from the communities (5) of interest. Descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentages, mean score and Shannon-Wiener diversity index was used to analyse the obtained data. The result shows that influence of land use on some species were habitat disturbance, habitat destruction, encroachment and extinction of species. Results on the biodiversity indices for the investigated communities shows that Oyorokoto Community had the highest number of zooplankton (1,817 individual), 1,326 phytoplankton individuals and 5,121 fish species individuals. Result on the effect of some industrial activities on species revealed that felling of trees accounted for the highest, followed by dredging activities, transportation construction and then mining. The study recommends creation of a national park for the conservation and sustainable use of areas of high significance for biodiversity.