Sains Malaysiana 50(2)(2021): 351-360

http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2021-5002-07

Soil Factors are the Drivers for Wetlands Colonization by Pneumatopteris afra in Nigeria

(Faktor Tanah adalah Pemacu Penjajahan Tanah Lembap oleh Pneumatopteris afra di Nigeria)

AKOMOLAFE GBENGA FESTUS^1,2* & RAHMAD ZAKARIA^1,3

¹School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Gelugor, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

²Department of Botany, Federal University of Lafia, PMB 146, Lafia, Nigeria

³Center for Global Sustainability Studies (CGSS), Level 5, Hamzah Sendut Library 1, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Gelugor, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Received: 17 February 2020/Accepted: 22 July 2020

ABSTRACT

The relationships between soil factors and plant community characteristics of some wetlands invaded by Pneumatopteris afra and non-invaded ones were investigated. Sixty soil samples were obtained from six wetlands comprising three invaded and three non-invaded in Lafia, Nigeria using sixty quadrants arranged on six 200 m transects. The samples, after air-dried and sieved using 2 mm mesh were analysed for the physico-chemical properties which include pH, organic matter (OM), percentage nitrogen (% N), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), exchangeable acidity (EA), percentage base saturation (% BS), particle size, porosity, bulk density (BD), hydraulic conductivity (HC), and moisture content (MC) using standard methods. Direct ordination in canonical correspondence analysis was used to determine the influence of these soil factors on P. afra abundance, Shannon diversity, and species richness of both invaded and non-invaded sites. All sites differ from each other in terms of their physico-chemical parameters. The invaded sites appeared to be more acidic (pH = 3.22), less sandy, more porous (38.11%), low HC (1.23) as compared with non-invaded ones. Soil factors that favoured abundance of P. afra (% OM and EA) correlated negatively with Shannon diversity index of invaded sites which was positively influenced by % N, pH, and cation exchange capacity (CEC). At the non-invaded sites, Shannon index and density were influenced positively by % BS, pH, AP, and % N. All these observations showed that the soil factors played significant roles in the establishment of P. afra at the invaded sites, and also on the plant diversity at non-invaded sites.

Keywords: Invasive plants; Lafia; physico-chemical parameters; Pneumatopteris afra; wetlands 

ABSTRAK

Hubungan antara faktor tanah dan ciri komuniti tanaman di sebilangan tanah lembap yang diserang dan yang tidak diserang oleh Pneumatopteris afra telah dikaji. Enam puluh sampel tanah diperoleh dari enam tanah lembap yang terdiri daripada tiga yang diserang dan tiga yang tidak diserang di Lafia, Nigeria menggunakan enam puluh kuadran yang disusun pada enam transek bersaiz 200 m. Sampel yang telah dikering udara dan diayak menggunakan jaring 2 mm telah dianalisis untuk sifat fiziko-kimia yang meliputi pH, bahan organik (OM), peratus nitrogen (% N), fosforus (P), kalsium (Ca), natrium (Na), kalium (K), magnesium (Mg), keasidan tertukarkan (EA), peratus ketepuan bes (% BS), ukuran zarah, keliangan, ketumpatan pukal (BD), kekonduksian hidraulik (HC) dan kandungan kelembapan (MC) menggunakan kaedah piawai. Pengordinatan langsung dalam analisis penghubungan berkanun digunakan untuk menentukan pengaruh faktor tanah terhadap kelimpahan P. afra, kepelbagaian Shannon dan kekayaan spesies daripada kedua-dua tapak yang diserang dan tidak diserang. Kesemua tapak adalah berbeza antara satu sama lain daripada segi parameter fiziko-kimia mereka. Tapak yang diserang kelihatan lebih berasid (pH = 3.22), kurang berpasir, lebih berpori (38.11%), rendah HC (1.23) berbanding dengan tapak yang tidak diserang. Faktor tanah yang memihak kepada kelimpahan P. afra (% OM dan EA) berkorelasi secara negatif dengan indeks kepelbagaian Shannon dari tapak yang diserang, dipengaruhi secara positif oleh % N, pH dan keupayaan pertukaran kation (CEC). Pada tapak yang tidak diserang, indeks dan ketumpatan Shannon dipengaruhi secara positif oleh % BS, pH, AP dan % N. Semua pemerhatian ini menunjukkan bahawa faktor tanah memainkan peranan penting dalam penubuhan P. afra di lokasi yang diserang dan juga kepelbagaian tanaman di kawasan yang tidak diserang.

Kata kunci: Lafia; parameter fiziko-kimia; Pneumatopteris afra; tanah lembap; tumbuhan invasive

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*Corresponding author; email: gfakomolafe@yahoo.com