Biological assessment is a useful alternative for understanding the ecological quality of aquatic ecosystems because biological communities integrate the environmental effects of water. This work investigates the diversity and abundance of phytoplankton in the Upper Jebba Basin of the Niger River in Nigeria. We sampled phytoplanktons by dragging plankton nets at three stations from March to May 2015 for qualitative and quantitative samples. Qualitative plankton samples were collected by towing 55μm mesh hydrobios plankton nets just below the water surface for five minutes at each sampling station. Quantitative samples, on the other hand, were collected by filtering 100 litres of water fetched with a bucket through a 55μm mesh hydrobios net. Both samples were preserved separately in a 4% buffered formalin solution. A total of 3160 cells/ml of phytoplanktons from taxa were identified in the study. High dominance of Oscillatoria sp., Microcystis sp., Chlorella sp., Pediastrum sp. and Synendra indicate that this lake has high amount of organic waste, polluted predominantly by upstream concerns (i.e., mining, agricultural, and domestic) and should be monitored strictly by relevant agencies in order to additional reduced health hazards caused by these pollutants.HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water, Energy and EnvironmentIssue: 19Page: 52-56

Background: The study was undertaken to determine the phytochemical screening and the antibacterial activities of Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce) against some clinically isolated fish pathogens. Methods: The healthy and disease free plants samples were collected from Jebba Upper Basin of River Niger and tested for their antibacterial activities and phytochemical properties. Pistia stratiotes aqueous extract was extracted using sterile distilled water. The Agar diffused methods were used to determine the antimicrobial actions of the plant against fish pathogens of Pseudomonas fluorescens, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Vibrio anguillarum. Results: The antibacterial investigation of aqueous extracts revealed the significant activity against these bacterial. Moreover, phytochemical examination of the crude extract showed the occurrence of saponins, alkaloids, tannins, anthraquinones, flavonoids, and catechins, which completely inhibited the growth of V. anguillarum and E. coli. However, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Aeromonas hydrophila exhibited moderate varying levels of resistance. Conclusion: The finding of this study showed that bioactive resistance from Pistia stratiotes can help disrupt the activities of various fish bacterial in aquaculture practices

Land encroachment is severely degrading and destroying many of Nigerian protected area as a result of high population pressure caused by high population growth and immigrations trends. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing human settlement encroachment in Kainji Lake National Park in order to established the extent to which this threat have been upheld and therefore call for park management to seek for proper approaches to deal with it. Data for this study were collected through the administration of questionnaire to the villages adjacent to Borgu sector of Kainji Lake National Park. Seven (7) randomly selected villages, namely Luma, Kuble, Audu Fari, Kali, Malale, Leshegbe and Gada Oli were surveyed. The result indicates gender of respondents where 65.09% of the responses were received from males while 34.91% from females suggesting that responses are the views from both gender parties who are mostly (33.96%) within the age range of 31–40 years and are predominantly farmer (43.42%). 88% of the respondents’ indicated that increased need of land for developments are the major causes of encroachment around the park while other human activities such as farming, deforestation and grazing of domesticated animals, by encroaching to protected areas have led into competition over natural resources. It is also established by 92% of the respondents agree that migration of people for livelihood support has led to increased competition between people and wildlife hence, this increase in population has consequently led to encroachment into the park as attested by a whopping 100% of the respondents. Kainji Lake National Park management need to do more in sensitizing the local communities on importance of wildlife conservation as most (54%) locals disagreed to awareness of conservation education and engages in intense vigilance against encroachment into the park land.