Authors: Abdul Lateef Shotuyo I. A. Ayodele
International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation
Abstract
Protecting the changes in genetic quality and quantity of native angiosperm community is very essential. An examination of native angiosperm biodiversity of the University of Agriculture Nature Reserve was carried out. Plants obtained were dried, poisoned and mounted on herbarium sheets; proper identification and confirmation in a recognised herbarium were carried out. A total of one hundred and eighteen (118) plant species being members of fifty-three families were found. Of these, ninety-eight were dicotyledons
and twenty were monocotyledons. Gramineae was the largest with nineteen plants followed by Papilionaceae with nine and Euphorbiaceae with eight plants. Shrubs were found to have significantly contributed to the ecosystem with thirty-one species, while twenty-five trees were recorded, herbs thirty, climbers eleven, grasses twenty and sedges one. From this study it could be ascertained that the Nature Reserve is richly endowed. It is commendable therefore, that the University has set aside the nature reserve to protect a representative sample of the vegetation for posterity so that all the native plants may not be lost as the University continue to expand due to development.
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