Species Richness and Diversity of Land Snails in Ngel-Nyaki Forest Reserve, Mambilla Plateau, Taraba State Nigeria

RONALD Winifred Isemobhita Abhulimen1*, WALSON Fate2
1*Department of Biological Sciences, Federal University Wukari, Nigeria.
2Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, University of Benin, Nigeria
DOI – http://doi.org/10.37502/IJSMR.2021.4709

Abstract                             

The need to identify and estimate the montane forest for bio-diversity conservation in Nigeria has become of utmost importance due to the fact that the tropics have faced massive biodiversity loss due to intensive anthropogenic activities. Molluscs are among the most ancient of animals on earth today. Nigeria Plateau has long been recognized for its faunal richness and diversity. This study established the molluscan compositions in relation to the soil content that influence the distribution of molluscs fauna of the plateau montane forest of Taraba State, Nigeria. The land snail richness and diversity of Mambilla plateau montane forest, Ngel- Nyaki, was studied using a combination of direct search and litter sieving techniques. Twenty-four plots of 20 x 20 m were randomly selected.  A total of 18 species and 681 individuals in 7 molluscan families were recorded from 24 plots. The carnivores Streptaxidae and Subulinidae dominated the land molluscan fauna in the number of species.  The non-parametric estimator of Chao 2 and jackknife were 17.985 and 18.10 of all sample collected. Nitrogen content in the soil of the montane forest was 7.25 gkg-1. Terrestrial mollusk with small populations and narrow distributional ranges are at a great risk of local extinction if forest destruction continues unabated. The land snail species inventory increased our knowledge of the molluscan fauna of the montane forest and also assisted in biodiversity conservation management in Nigeria.

Keywords: Mollusc, Biodiversity loss, Conservation, Diversity index, Montane forest.

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