The act of consuming soil (geophagy) has been reported both in man and wildlife. Most previous st... more The act of consuming soil (geophagy) has been reported both in man and wildlife. Most previous studies have concentrated more on various type of geophagic soilswith less attention on termite mounds (TMs), thus limiting our understanding the cause(s) of geophagy. This study investigated the physico-chemical constituents of wildlife geophagic TMsincomparison with non-geophagic forest soil (FS). Composite soil samples were collected each from four different TMs and a FS. Samples were analyzed for pH, texture, electrical conductivity (EC), water retention capacity (WRC), moisture content (MC) and colour.Soils were analyzed in triplicates following standard methods. Datagenerated were analyzed statisticallywith SPSS version 17.Theresult indicated acidic pH for both TMs(strongly to slightly acidic) and FS (slightly acidic). Clay content, EC, WRC and MC were significantly higher in TMs than FS.The colour of TMs ranged from reddish brown(4R 4/5) to dark brown (2.5R 5/7 or 5R 6/8) as against...
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2021
Human-wildlife conflict remains a major challenge in wildlife conservation. This study explored t... more Human-wildlife conflict remains a major challenge in wildlife conservation. This study explored the occurrence of human-wildlife conflict and its impact on the subsistence of rural communities’ adjoining Okomu National Park (ONP), Edo State, Nigeria. A semi-structured questionnaire (for villagers and law enforcement staff of Okomu National Park) and focus group discussion were employed to establish the occurrence and impact of human-wildlife conflict in ONP from January to April 2019. A total of 5 villages were purposively sampled of which 160 villagers, 70 rangers and 3 focused groups (comprising 7 individuals per group) were surveyed. The results revealed that Monkey (Cercopithecus erythrogaster), Buffalo (Syneruscafer), Elephant (Loxodontacylotis), Duikers (Philatombamaxwelli), and Porcupine (Histrixcristata)causes significant problem (χ2 =102.28, P= 0.000; χ2=10.592, P=0.000; χ2=15.454, P= 0.001; χ2= 10.213, P= 0.001; χ2=27.815, P= 0.007 respectively). Also, the occurrence of hu...
Globally, the Covid-19 pandemic affected the environment, placing a strain on the economy and all... more Globally, the Covid-19 pandemic affected the environment, placing a strain on the economy and all parts of human society. The effects of Covid-19 are inevitable, as there is a reduction in human pressures on the natural ecosystem because of the lockdown of social and economic activities. Ecosystem integrity (in terms of species diversity, endemism, and threats) in African countries with global hotspots for biodiversity conservation threatened. This paper provides a snapshot of the quickly growing situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and predicts events during normality. At present, essential conservation work (protected area/national park staff still patrol and guard vulnerable species and landscapes) is still ongoing across the globe with the accruing positive effects of the pandemic—reduced air/water pollution, short-term disruption in wildlife trafficking and ecosystem restoration. Despite this, prevailing problems such as indiscriminate exploitation of wildlife res...
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2020
This study determined the degree and socio-demographic predictors of residents’ willingness to pa... more This study determined the degree and socio-demographic predictors of residents’ willingness to participate in the mountain tourism development of Ado-Awaye Suspended Lake (ASL), Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select and administer semi-structured questionnaires to three hundred and sixty-six (366) households. Descriptive statistics and binomial logistic regression algorithm were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that majority of the households were willing to learn about the natural heritage, preserve the culture, provide environmental education for tourists, and participate in mountain tourism-related employment. Among the four indicators of residents’ willingness to participate in mountain tourism development, households were willing to participate in mountain tourism planning. The linear regression analysis shows that predictors varied with the four critical indicators - willingness to conserve the natural resources, to preserve the cultural...
Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, 2020
This study investigated the dynamics and socioeconomic drivers of illegal hunting of wildlife ani... more This study investigated the dynamics and socioeconomic drivers of illegal hunting of wildlife animal commonly called bushmeat in Oba Hills Forest Reserve (OHFR) in Southwest Nigeria. Two hundred and thirty-four households in 8 host communities were subjected to direct household survey using a multi-stage sampling technique. The results revealed that mainly young and middle-aged men engaged in group and seasonal bushmeat hunting, mostly during the dry season. Also, the scale of daily illegal bushmeat hunting is high in the protected area. Non-selective hunting has increased over the last five years with traditional means of hunting still prominent during the hunting expedition. Thus, the socioeconomic drivers (age, ethnicity and household size) had a strong relationship with illegal bushmeat hunting, and their odds ratio ranged between 2.11 and 3.73. Failure to provide stakes for the host communities’ inhabitants and weak penal system influenced illegal bushmeat hunting in OHFR. We c...
The demand for fish in Nigeria is still not met, despite having a domestic production estimated a... more The demand for fish in Nigeria is still not met, despite having a domestic production estimated at about 800,000 metric tonnes. The demand stands at about 2.1 million metric tonnes per year. There is a shortfall of about 1.3 million metric tonnes. To solve this problem Nigeria has turned to fish importation while several other policies are being put in place by successive administrations to improve on local production. However, none of the efforts has been successful so far. The aim of this paper is to assess the potentials of offshore aquaculture within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Nigeria with the view of meeting the fish demand of Nigerians. The paper develops a framework for the operation of offshore aquaculture. The implications of climate change on offshore fish production along the coastal area were highlighted. Strategies and policy measures needed to combat the challenges facing offshore aquaculture in order for it to live to its full potentials in protecting the li...
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2019
This paper summarises the current state of knowledge on the landscape of protected areas in Niger... more This paper summarises the current state of knowledge on the landscape of protected areas in Nigeria and elucidates on the status, drivers, effects and solutions to host communities’ dependence on the protected areas towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 15.9 and Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 in Nigeria. The present land coverage (15.15%) of Nigeria’s protected areas is highly degraded and far away from the target 4 of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2016 – 2020). This is connected to the fact that protected areas constitute the largest food base for host communities’ survival in Nigeria. Even, despite the rural-urban drift in search of a white-collar job, a larger percentage of Nigeria’s populations are still situated in the rural areas. The participation of the local communities in biodiversity conservation, their wellbeing, culture and livelihood have always been a subject of interest to the stakeholders (local communities, park management, and cons...
The act of consuming soil (geophagy) has been reported both in man and wildlife. Most previous st... more The act of consuming soil (geophagy) has been reported both in man and wildlife. Most previous studies have concentrated more on various type of geophagic soilswith less attention on termite mounds (TMs), thus limiting our understanding the cause(s) of geophagy. This study investigated the physico-chemical constituents of wildlife geophagic TMsincomparison with non-geophagic forest soil (FS). Composite soil samples were collected each from four different TMs and a FS. Samples were analyzed for pH, texture, electrical conductivity (EC), water retention capacity (WRC), moisture content (MC) and colour.Soils were analyzed in triplicates following standard methods. Datagenerated were analyzed statisticallywith SPSS version 17.Theresult indicated acidic pH for both TMs(strongly to slightly acidic) and FS (slightly acidic). Clay content, EC, WRC and MC were significantly higher in TMs than FS.The colour of TMs ranged from reddish brown(4R 4/5) to dark brown (2.5R 5/7 or 5R 6/8) as against...
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2021
Human-wildlife conflict remains a major challenge in wildlife conservation. This study explored t... more Human-wildlife conflict remains a major challenge in wildlife conservation. This study explored the occurrence of human-wildlife conflict and its impact on the subsistence of rural communities’ adjoining Okomu National Park (ONP), Edo State, Nigeria. A semi-structured questionnaire (for villagers and law enforcement staff of Okomu National Park) and focus group discussion were employed to establish the occurrence and impact of human-wildlife conflict in ONP from January to April 2019. A total of 5 villages were purposively sampled of which 160 villagers, 70 rangers and 3 focused groups (comprising 7 individuals per group) were surveyed. The results revealed that Monkey (Cercopithecus erythrogaster), Buffalo (Syneruscafer), Elephant (Loxodontacylotis), Duikers (Philatombamaxwelli), and Porcupine (Histrixcristata)causes significant problem (χ2 =102.28, P= 0.000; χ2=10.592, P=0.000; χ2=15.454, P= 0.001; χ2= 10.213, P= 0.001; χ2=27.815, P= 0.007 respectively). Also, the occurrence of hu...
Globally, the Covid-19 pandemic affected the environment, placing a strain on the economy and all... more Globally, the Covid-19 pandemic affected the environment, placing a strain on the economy and all parts of human society. The effects of Covid-19 are inevitable, as there is a reduction in human pressures on the natural ecosystem because of the lockdown of social and economic activities. Ecosystem integrity (in terms of species diversity, endemism, and threats) in African countries with global hotspots for biodiversity conservation threatened. This paper provides a snapshot of the quickly growing situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and predicts events during normality. At present, essential conservation work (protected area/national park staff still patrol and guard vulnerable species and landscapes) is still ongoing across the globe with the accruing positive effects of the pandemic—reduced air/water pollution, short-term disruption in wildlife trafficking and ecosystem restoration. Despite this, prevailing problems such as indiscriminate exploitation of wildlife res...
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2020
This study determined the degree and socio-demographic predictors of residents’ willingness to pa... more This study determined the degree and socio-demographic predictors of residents’ willingness to participate in the mountain tourism development of Ado-Awaye Suspended Lake (ASL), Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select and administer semi-structured questionnaires to three hundred and sixty-six (366) households. Descriptive statistics and binomial logistic regression algorithm were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that majority of the households were willing to learn about the natural heritage, preserve the culture, provide environmental education for tourists, and participate in mountain tourism-related employment. Among the four indicators of residents’ willingness to participate in mountain tourism development, households were willing to participate in mountain tourism planning. The linear regression analysis shows that predictors varied with the four critical indicators - willingness to conserve the natural resources, to preserve the cultural...
Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, 2020
This study investigated the dynamics and socioeconomic drivers of illegal hunting of wildlife ani... more This study investigated the dynamics and socioeconomic drivers of illegal hunting of wildlife animal commonly called bushmeat in Oba Hills Forest Reserve (OHFR) in Southwest Nigeria. Two hundred and thirty-four households in 8 host communities were subjected to direct household survey using a multi-stage sampling technique. The results revealed that mainly young and middle-aged men engaged in group and seasonal bushmeat hunting, mostly during the dry season. Also, the scale of daily illegal bushmeat hunting is high in the protected area. Non-selective hunting has increased over the last five years with traditional means of hunting still prominent during the hunting expedition. Thus, the socioeconomic drivers (age, ethnicity and household size) had a strong relationship with illegal bushmeat hunting, and their odds ratio ranged between 2.11 and 3.73. Failure to provide stakes for the host communities’ inhabitants and weak penal system influenced illegal bushmeat hunting in OHFR. We c...
The demand for fish in Nigeria is still not met, despite having a domestic production estimated a... more The demand for fish in Nigeria is still not met, despite having a domestic production estimated at about 800,000 metric tonnes. The demand stands at about 2.1 million metric tonnes per year. There is a shortfall of about 1.3 million metric tonnes. To solve this problem Nigeria has turned to fish importation while several other policies are being put in place by successive administrations to improve on local production. However, none of the efforts has been successful so far. The aim of this paper is to assess the potentials of offshore aquaculture within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Nigeria with the view of meeting the fish demand of Nigerians. The paper develops a framework for the operation of offshore aquaculture. The implications of climate change on offshore fish production along the coastal area were highlighted. Strategies and policy measures needed to combat the challenges facing offshore aquaculture in order for it to live to its full potentials in protecting the li...
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2019
This paper summarises the current state of knowledge on the landscape of protected areas in Niger... more This paper summarises the current state of knowledge on the landscape of protected areas in Nigeria and elucidates on the status, drivers, effects and solutions to host communities’ dependence on the protected areas towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 15.9 and Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 in Nigeria. The present land coverage (15.15%) of Nigeria’s protected areas is highly degraded and far away from the target 4 of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2016 – 2020). This is connected to the fact that protected areas constitute the largest food base for host communities’ survival in Nigeria. Even, despite the rural-urban drift in search of a white-collar job, a larger percentage of Nigeria’s populations are still situated in the rural areas. The participation of the local communities in biodiversity conservation, their wellbeing, culture and livelihood have always been a subject of interest to the stakeholders (local communities, park management, and cons...
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Papers by Oluseun Akinsorotan