Does <i>Typha</i> spp. Contribute to Wetland Waterloss and Health Risk: A Case Study of Hadejia Nguru Wetlands (HNW) System NE Nigeria

Abstract

The role of Typha spp. on water loss and public health has been uncertained and relatively poorly reported in Hadejia Nguru wetlands. This study investigated the extent to which Typha spp. contributed to evapotranspirative water loss and the level at which it provides suitable habitat for mosquito breeding. A comparative analysis between Typha swamp and open water was made to determine the evapotranspiration water loss and mosquito larva load accounted for by Typha swamp in the wetland. Maximum and minimum temperatures were measured and recorded daily for the months of January, March and June in 2013. Blaney-Criddle equation was used to estimate the evapotranspiration from Typha swamp (Site A) while piche evaporimeter was used to measure direct evaporation from the adjacent open water (Site B). Water samples were collected in Sites A and B using 100 ml beaker at random and the number of mosquito larvae in the sample was counted. T test was used to evaluate differences in water loss and larva load between open water and Typha swamp in the wetland. The findings revealed that there was no significant difference in water loss at p < 0.05 between Typha swamp and open water in the wetland. However, the Typha swamp was found to harbor more mosquito larvae than the open water at p < 0.05 which was considered a public health risk.

Typha (Cattail) Invasion in North American Wetlands: Biology, Regional Problems, Impacts, Ecosystem Services, and Management

“…Although generally edible, a few cases have implicated Typha in poisoning horses (Kingsbury 1964), cattle (Hurst 1942), and humans (Woodcock 1925). Large stands of Typha can harbor increased disease vectors, such as mosquitoes, snails and parasitic worms, potentially putting livestock and humans at greater disease risk (Cantrell 1981;Cogels et al 1997;Pfukenyi et al 2005;Pope et al 2005;Salako et al 2016). In the case of traditional grazing in Nigeria, large swaths of Typha have reduced the amount of available dryseason pasture (Degeorges and Reilly 2006).…”

Nexus between weeds secondary succession and livelihoods in Hadejia-Nguru wetlands of Nigeria

“…In recent times, the emergence of invasive grass weeds has been identified as one of the factors affecting the Hadejia -Nguru wetlands. This had been reported in several studies, media and technical reports (Babagana et al, 2018;Abubakar S. Ringim et al, 2015;Salako et al, 2016). According to , most of the weeds are self-sown and they provide competition owing to their faster rate of growth in the initial stages, which reduce the crop yield by 50%.…”

“…On the other hand, focused on how typha grass is militating against agricultural productivity along Hadejia River. Similar studies in the area are those of Zungum et al (2019) and Salako et al (2016). However, the latter studied the impact of typha grass on biodiversity loss in the wetlands, while the former carried out a research on how typha contributes to wetland water loss and health risk in the wetlands.…”

Mosquito abundance and diversity in central Ohio, USA vary among stormwater wetlands, retention ponds, and detention ponds and their associated environmental parameters

“…However, relationships between these invasive plants and mosquito larvae are inconsistent. Some research has found a positive relationship [ 90 , 91 ] and others show a negative [ 34 , 92 , 93 ] or non-significant relationship [ 40 , 41 , 94 , 95 ]. Management of vegetation in SCMs can be expensive and difficult to perform in a way that minimizes mosquito production [ 96 ].…”