Abstract Detail

Conservation Biology

OGUNDIPE , OLUWATOYIN TEMITAYO [1], Adeyemi , Temitope Olabisi [2].

A Checklist of Trees in Lagos state, Nigeria.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have an 8- point program aimed at accelerating anall-round development worldwide. Most countries are committed to achieving these MDGs by 2015, as a result, global regional and particularly local public private partnerships have been variously formed to achieve the desired environmental sustainability. Generally, much of the trees have been lost to urbanization or urbanism, the fast-lane concept of development which triggered off the "carve-out" mentality in urban development. Consequently, a lot of the greeneries found in the home-grown lawns or the undulating terrains have been lost to the various status-seeking or status- equalities of the recent urban development policies. In Nigeria, various State Governments have identified the pressing need to create Ministries of Environment as a tool for zeroing in on and achieving the MDG-7. Lagos State is among the states of the federation that have brooked squarely the challenges of environmental sustainability. In its on-going beautification exercise of the state, the Lagos State government proposed the tree tagging, enumeration and identification of tress in the state as a veritable option for achieving the MDG-7. This aim of this paper was to document tree species in Lagos state metropolitan area and identify and tag them appropriately. Samples were collected for 6months (July 2009 - December 2009) using random sampling from six local government areas (Apapa, Eti-osa, Ikeja, Lagos island, Lagos Mainland and Surulere) in Lagos state. These were identified and authenticated at the University of Lagos herbarium and tags were produced for proper identification of the trees. Twelve thousand eight hundred and eighty nine taxa(12889) were observed distributed amongst 27 families encompassing 48 genera and 52 species. The highest population of trees was encountered in Eti-osa local government area (6796), Ikeja (2339) and Apapa (1544) while fewer populations of trees were observed in Surulere (800), Lagos Island (630) and Lagos Mainland (780). This study has highlights the plant resources that are left in Lagos. It is also a good signal to expatriates in the state that there is knowledge on the flora diversity of Lagos state which in turn will assist government in proper planning. Project was sponsored by Ministry of the Environment, Lagos State Government, Nigeria

Broader Impacts:

1 - University of Lagos, Botany, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, 234, Nigeria
2 - University of Lagos, Department of Botany, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, Lagos, 23401, Nigeria

Keywords:
biodiversity
Lagos
Trees.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Session: 41
Location: Union C/Hyatt
Date: Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
Time: 4:00 PM
Number: 41008
Abstract ID:271