INFLUENCE OF AQUATIC AND WETLAND MACROPHYTES ON FISH SPECIES COMPOSITION OF NGURU LAKE, YOBE STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

This study highlighted the influence aquatic plants on fish species composition, this coincide with the human perturbation on the difficulty in conservation of biodiversity in Nigeria, especially Yobe State. Thus this was aggravated to several attributions that cause serious threat to aquatic organisms such as habitat destruction, use of chemicals, and other agricultural land uses. However, these anthropogenic activities depredate the aquatic macrophytes that leads to habitat lost. Although, aquatic plants are the niches of both vertebrates and invertebrates that support aquatic ecosystem: that is fish and its immediate natural foods in the water body. Therefore, lack of standard techniques to applied appropriately in the field of fisheries to investigate the relationship between aquatic macrophytes and fish species become a constraint. Moreover, the different shoal of fish species responds to different or specific aquatic macrophytes, thus, in this study, the CCA was employed using PAST Software to find out the intra and interrelationship. The findings of this research disclosed that, the intra and interrelationship between of aquatic macrophyte species and fish species composition of Nguru Lake. The Oryza barthii and Spermacoce verticulata were positively correlated. They had inverse relationship with Oreochromis niloticus and Chromidotilapia guntheri in axis-I, but the Digitaria sanguinalis, Mariscus longibracteatus, Rhynchospora corynbosa etc. were positively influences the Bagrus bayad  and Clarias macromystax in axis-I whereas Blepharis maderaspatensis positively influences Lates niloticus and Hydrocynus forskalis while, Typha angustifolia, Typha australis etc. were strongly influencing Heterotis niloticus distribution, though slightly and positively affecting Coptodon zilli, Sarotheradon galilaeus, Schilbei mystus, Distichodus rostratus and Polypterus endlecheri in axis-III. Also, Triumfetta cordifolia was slightly and negatively influenced by Protopterus anectens, Polypterus senegalensis etc. in axis III. Hence, lack of government supports, politics, poor policy promulgation, inadequate implementation, poverty and illiteracy are among the major constraint of fisheries dev

elopment, especially in Yobe State.