Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

Ecological diversity, community structure and conservation of Niger Delta mammals

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Niger Delta (southern Nigeria) is a crucial region for biodiversity because it is (i) part of the West African forests hotspot, (ii) under considerable threats because of habitat devastations, and (iii) a minor centre of endemism for many faunal and floral groups. In this paper, we analyze the communities of mammals (excluding bats, shrews and murids) occurring in all vegetation zones of the region, using both original field data (direct sightings of live animals, bushmeat market specimens, skins, skulls, bones, tracks, reliable interviews) collected in 1996–2015 and literature data. We also explore the main drivers of community structure by using a suite of multivariate (cluster) and null models (co-occurrence) analyses, and the conservation consequences of our data. A total of 45 extant species was found; their ecological distribution was uneven across vegetation zones, with flood forest, marsh forest and eastern flank forests housing more species. Although most species were widespread, 33.3 % had narrow ecological preferences. Cluster analysis confirmed that the community composition was (i) similar in habitats that were suspected to derive from pristine flood forests, and that (ii) the mammal assemblages were different in the two sides of the River Niger main axis. The endemic rate was low (4.44 % of the species), with one endemic species for each of the two sides of the Niger Delta. Twenty-one species were uncertain to occur in the study area, with a few being extinct (for instance, Choeropsis liberiensis). Co-occurrence models excluded that a competitively structured community of species is assembled in each of the vegetation zones, and cluster analyses suggested that biogeographic pressures may be important. 24.4 % of the extant species are globally threatened by IUCN, with one being Endangered (Pan troglodytes) and one Critically Endangered (Piliocolobus epieni). Flood forest and Eastern Flank forest represented the main vegetation zones inhabited by threatened species. In order to preserve the mammal community of the Delta, it is essential to carefully conserve flood and marsh forest patches, but also barrier island forests that still house highly threatened mammal populations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

References

  • Akani GC, Luiselli L, Politano E (1999) Ecological and conservation considerations on the reptile fauna of the eastern Niger Delta (Nigeria). Herpetozoa 11:141–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Akani GC, Politano E, Luiselli L (2004) Amphibians recorded in forest swamp areas of the River Niger Delta (southeastern Nigeria), and the effects of habitat alteration from oil industry development on species richness and diversity. Appl Herpetol 2:1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akani GC, Luiselli L, Eniang EA, Ebere N (2008) Community structure and ecology of snakes in fields of oil palm trees (Elaeis guineensis) in the Niger Delta, southern Nigeria. Af J Ecol 46:500–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akani GC, Aifesehi PEE, Petrozzi F, Amadi N, Luiselli L (2014a) Preliminary surveys of the terrestrial vertebrate fauna (mammals, reptiles, and amphibians) of the Edumanon Forest Reserve, Nigeria. Trop Zool 27:63–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akani GC, Aifesehi PEE, Petrozzi F, Luiselli L (2014b) Aspects of community ecology of reptiles in the swamp forests of the Upper Orashi Forest Reserve (Niger Delta, Nigeria). Afr J Ecol. doi:10.1111/aje.12176

    Google Scholar 

  • Akani GC, Petrozzi F, Luiselli L (2014c) Variation in reptile community composition across different plantation types in south-eastern Nigeria. Revue d’ Ecologie (Terre et Vie) 69:285–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Akani GC, Aifesehi PEE, Petrozzi F, Amadi N, Luiselli L (2015) Diversity of terrestrial vertebrates in Taylor Creek Forest Reserve, an area of high environmental value in the River Niger Delta (Bayelsa State, Nigeria). Vie et Milieu (Life and Environment) 64:59–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Anadu PA, Oates JF (1988) The Olive Colobus in Nigeria. Niger Field 53:31–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Angelici FM, Akani GC, Luiselli L (1998) The leopard (Panthera pardus) in south-eastern Nigeria: status, ecological correlates of occurrence and conservation implications. Ital J Zool 65:307–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angelici FM, Grimod I, Politano E (1999) Mammals of the eastern Niger Delta (Rivers and Bayelsa States, Nigeria): an environment affected by a gas-pipeline. Folia Zool 48:249–264

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker LR, Olubode OS (2008) Correlates with the distribution and abundance of endangered Sclater’s monkeys (Cercopithecus sclateri) in southern Nigeria. Afr J Ecol 46:365–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker LR, Tanimola AA, Olubode OS, Garshelis DL (2009) Distribution and abundance of sacred monkeys in Igboland, southern Nigeria. Am J Primatol 71:574–586

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blench R (2007) Mammals of the Niger Delta, Nigeria (Privately printed). Online report. http://www.rogerblench.info, p 64

  • Bocian C (1998) Preliminary observations on the status of primates in the Etiema Community Forest. Report to the A.G. Leventis Foundation, Liechtenstein, and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Lagos

  • Bocian C (1999) A primate survey of the Okoroba Community Forest, Edumanom Forest Reserve. Report to the A.G. Leventis Foundation, Liechtenstein, and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Lagos

  • Colyn M, Hulselmans J, Sonet G, Oudé P, De Winter J, Natta A, Nagy TZ, Verheyen EK (2010) Discovery of a new duiker species (Bovidae: Cephalophinae) from the Dahomey Gap, West Africa. Zootaxa 2637:1–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corbet GB (1969) The taxonomic status of the pygmy hippopotamus, Choeropsis liberiensis, from the Niger Delta. J Zool 158:387–394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Montclos MA (1994) Le Nigéria. Kurthala, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Devictor V, Julliard R, Clavel J, Jiguet F, Lee A, Couvet D (2008) Functional biotic homogenization of bird communities in disturbed landscapes. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 17:252–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eltringham SK (1993) The Pygmy Hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis). Pigs, peccaries and hippos status survey and action plan. IUCN, Gland

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaubert P (2013) Genetta. In: Kingdon J, Butynski T (eds) The mammals of Africa, vol 4., Carnivora, Pinnipedia, Pholidota, Tubulidentata, Hyracoidea, Proboscidea, Sirenia, PerissodactylaAcademic, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gotelli NJ, Entsminger EJ (2003) EcoSim: null model software for ecology. Acquired Intelligence, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gotelli NJ, Graves GR (1996) Null models in ecology. Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Groves P, Leslie DM Jr (2011) Bovidae (Hollow-horned ruminants). In: Wilson DE, Mittermeier RA (eds) Handbook of mammals of the world: Hoofed mammals, vol 2. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, p 444–779

  • Grubb P (1978) Patterns of speciation in African mammals. Bull Carnegie Mus Nat Hist 6:152–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Grubb P (1990) Primate geography in the Afro-tropical forest biome. In: Peters G, Hutterer R (eds) Vertebrates in the Tropics. Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, pp 187–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Grubb PJ (2006) Geospecies and superspecies in the African primate fauna. Primate Conserv 20:65–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grubb PJ, Butyinski TM, Oates JF, Bearder SK, Disotell TR, Groves CP, Struhsaker TT (2003) Assessment of the diversity of African primates. Int J Primatol 24:1301–1357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Happold DCD (1985) Geographical ecology of Nigerian mammals. Annales-Musee Royal de l’Afrique Centrale-Sciences Zoologiques 246:5–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Happold DCD (1987) The mammals of Nigeria. Clarendon, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Harcourt AH, Wood MA (2012) Rivers as barriers to primate distributions in Africa. Int J Primatol 33:168–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heslop IRP (1935a) Report on the vertebrate fauna of the Owerri Province of Nigeria. Occasional paper of the Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire. Paper no. 4. Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Heslop IRP (1935b) Supplementary note to the Owerri fauna report. Occasional Paper of the Society of the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire. Paper no. 5. Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire, London, pp 1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Ikemeh AR (2007a) Okomu leopard study: a preliminary assessment of leopards in Okomu forest reserve, south-western, Nigeria. Report to A. P. Leventis Conservation Foundation, Nigeria

  • Ikemeh AR (2007b) A survey of leopards in south-west Nigeria. Report to IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist group. http://www.cats.org. Accessed 3 May 2015

  • Ikemeh RA (2013) Survey of the Nigerian–Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti) in the Niger River Delta of Nigeria: status, threats and strategies for conservation. Report to the African Wildlife Foundation, Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  • IUCN (2014) The Red List of threatened species, version 3. http://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed 2 May 2015

  • Jewell PA, Oates JF (1969) Ecological observations on the lorisoid primates of African lowland forest. Zoologica Africana 4:231–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingdon J (1989) Island Africa: the evolution of Africa’s rare animals and plants. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingdon J (1997) The Kingdon field guide to African mammals. Academic, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingdon J, Happold D, Butynski T, Hoffmann M, Happold M, Kalina J (2014) Mammals of Africa. Bloomsbury Natural History, London

    Google Scholar 

  • La Sorte FA (2006) Geographical expansion and increased prevalence of common species in avian assemblages: implications for large-scale patterns of species richness. J Biogeogr 33:1183–1191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luiselli L (2008) Community ecology of African reptiles: historical perspective and a meta-analysis using null models. Afr J Ecol 46:384–394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers N (1998) Global biodiversity priorities and expanded conservation policies. In: Mace GM, Balmford A, Ginsberg JR (eds) Conservation in a changing world. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 273–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers N, Mittermaier RA, Mittermaier CG, da Fonseca GAB, Kent J (2000) Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403:853–858

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Niger Delta Environmental Survey (NDES) (1998) Environmental and Socio-Economic characteristics, vol 1. NDES, Port Harcourt

    Google Scholar 

  • Nowak RM (1999) Walker’s mammals of the world, vol 1, 6th edn. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Ó Gráda C (2013) Eating people is wrong: famine’s darkest secret? Leibniz Information Centre for Economics. Working paper series. UCD Centre for Economic Research, No. 13/02

  • Oates JF (1985) The Nigerian Guenon, Cercopithecus erythrogaster: ecological, behavioural, systematic and historical observations. Folia Primatologica 45:25–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oates JF (1988) The distribution of Cercopithecus monkeys in West African forests. In: Gautier-Hion A, Bourlière F, Gautier J-P (eds) A primate radiation: evolutionary biology of the African guenons. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 79–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Oates JF (1999) Myth and reality in the rain forest: how conservation strategies are failing in West Africa. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Oates JF (2011) Primates of West Africa. Conservation International, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Oates JF, Jewell PA (1967) Westerly extent of the range of three African lorisoid primates. Nature 215:778–779

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oates JF, Bergl RA, Linder JM (2004) Africa’s Gulf of Guinea forests: biodiversity patterns and conservation priorities. Adv Appl Biodivers Sci 6:1–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrozzi F, Akani GC, Amadi N, Eniang EA, Gippoliti S, Luiselli L (2015) Surveys of mammal communities in a system of five forest reserves suggest an ongoing biotic homogenization process for the Niger Delta (Nigeria). Trop Zool. doi:10.1080/03946975.2015.1049084

    Google Scholar 

  • Pimley E (2009) A survey of nocturnal primates (Strepsirrhini: Galaginae, Perodictinae) in southern Nigeria. Afr J Ecol. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.2008.00970.x

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell CB (1993) Sites and species of conservation interest in the central axis of the Niger Delta (Yenagoa, Sagbama, Ekeremor, and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas). A report of recommendations to the Natural Resources Conservation Council (NARESCON). NARESCON, Abuja

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell CB (1997) Discoveries and priorities for mammals in the freshwater forests of the Niger Delta. Oryx 31:83–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell CB, Grubb P (2002) Range extension of black-fronted duiker (Cephalophus nigrifrons Gray 1871, Artiodactyla Bovidae): first records from Nigeria. Trop Zool 15:89–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ritchie J (1930) Distribution of the pygmy hippopotamus. Nature 126:204–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosevear DR (1953) Checklist and atlas of Nigerian mammals with a foreword on vegetation. Government Printer, Lagos

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone L, Roberts A (1990) The checkerboard score and species distributions. Oecologia 85:74–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werre L (1991) A survey of the Taylor Creek Forest Area, Rivers State, Nigeria. Ph.D. program in anthropology, City University of New York, pp 21+3 maps

  • Wilson DE, Reeder DR (2005) Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference, 3rd edn. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Professor John F. Oates corrected our data concerning the primates, thus avoiding some errors on our side. We also benefited from exchange of opinions and information with Dr. Lynne R. Baker, Prof. John Fa, Prof. Barineme Fakae, Dr. Spartaco Gippoliti, Prof. John F. Oates, and Dr. Fabio Petrozzi. However, the opinions presented in this paper are merely those of its authors. Dr. Giuliano Milana helped in drafting the figures. Dr Dagoberto Port and two anonymous referees commented and improved an earlier draft. Funding was provided by Shell Petroleum Development Company (Port Harcourt) and indirectly by Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Turtle Survival Alliance, Turtle Conservation Fund, Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, and Conservation International.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied and Environmental Biology, Niger Delta Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation Unit, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, PMB 5080, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria

    Luca Luiselli & Godfrey C. Akani

  2. Environmental Studies Centre Demetra, via Olona 7, 00198, Rome, RM, Italy

    Luca Luiselli & Godfrey C. Akani

  3. National Research Council, Institute for the Studies of Ecosystems, Rome, RM, Italy

    Giovanni Amori

  4. Department of Forestry and Wildlife, University of Uyo, PMB 1017, Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria

    Edem A. Eniang

Authors
  1. Luca Luiselli
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Giovanni Amori
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Godfrey C. Akani
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Edem A. Eniang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luca Luiselli.

Additional information

Communicated by Dirk Sven Schmeller.

Appendix

Appendix

List of the squirrel species occurring in the Niger Delta. The IUCN (2014) red list category of each species is reported in brackets. Sources Kingdon (1997), Wilson and Reeder (2005), IUCN (2014), and Kingdon et al. (2014).

Xerus erythropus (LC); Funisciurus anerythrus (LC); Funisciurus leucogenys (LC); Funisciurus pyrropus (LC); Paraxerus poensis (LC); Heliosciurus rufobrachium (LC); Protoxerus stangeri (LC)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Luiselli, L., Amori, G., Akani, G.C. et al. Ecological diversity, community structure and conservation of Niger Delta mammals. Biodivers Conserv 24, 2809–2830 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0975-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0975-8

Keywords