Abstract:
The study examined the relationship between tree ecological parameters and abundance of soil
organisms in ecological zones of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The study adopted quasi experimental
research design. A quadrat of 100m x 100m was delimited in the relatively less disturbed forest
in each ecological zone from which twenty (20) sub-quadrats were randomly selected for data
collection on plants and soil organisms (earthworm, arthropods, fungi and bacteria) abundance at
different soil depths (0-15cm, 15-30cm, 30-45cm). Both descriptive and inferential statistics
were used for data analysis. Findings showed that a total of 251 earthworm population was found
in the entire area with the highest (52.1%) at the topsoil in the freshwater swamp (FWS) while
176 individual species of earthworm recorded in the mangrove (MG) with highest in the topsoil
(63.64%). Soil arthropods abundance was significantly higher between FWS and MG at p<0.05.
Earthworm abundance was significantly correlated with tree composition (r=-0.459), tree density
(r=0.543) and tree density (r=0.581) in the FWS while soil fungi was significantly correlated
with tree richness (r=0.445) at the topsoil in the FWS. In addition, at 15-30cm soil depth in the
FWS, only soil fungi was correlated with tree composition (r=0.668) and tree richness (r=0.550).
At the soil depth of 30-45, only soil bacteria was significantly correlated with tree richness
(r=0.624) and tree density (r=0.464). In MG, at the soil depth of 0-15cm, soil arthropods
abundance was significantly correlated with tree composition (r=0.464). At 15-30cm, soil
bacteria was significantly correlated with tree richness (r=0.582) and tree density (r=0.632) while
soil fungi was significantly correlated with number of trees (r=0.611), tree diversity (r=0.624),
tree richness (r=0.520) and tree density (r=0.632). At the soil depth of 30-45cm, soil fungi
correlated significantly with number of trees (r=0.474). The study recommended that plant
conservation is important to protect the survival of soil organisms |
