Rivers State University of Science and Technology

About: Rivers State University of Science and Technology is a education organization based out in Port Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Threatened species. The organization has 1826 authors who have published 1833 publications receiving 15183 citations.

Chemical composition of indigenous wild herbs, spices, fruits, nuts and leafy vegetables used as food

Abstract: Thirty wild fruits, nuts, herbs, spices and leafy vegetables were characterized and their chemical composition determined. Some of them were not only used for food, but for medicine in minor aliments by the natives. Results of the proximate analysis showed that on dry weight basis, the crude protein content ranged from 4.6 to 22.1 percent for spices and herbs, 3.2 to 43.1 percent for fruits and nuts, and 15.9 to 35.7 percent for leafy vegetables. The fat (ether extract) ranged from 7.5 to 36.0 percent for spices and herbs, 1.8 to 72.6 percent for fruits and nuts and 10.6 to 22.6 percent for leafy vegetables. Total carbohydrate content ranged from 34.6 to 71.9 percent for spices and herbs, 11.3 to 76.1 percent for fruits and nuts, and 24.6 to 51.4 percent for leafy vegetables. The wild fruits, nuts and leafy vegetables are high in ascorbic acid (Vitamin C.) Ascorbic acid content ranged from 18 mg/100 g dry sample to 113 mg/100 g sample for fruits and nuts, and 23 mg/100 g to 232 mg/100 g sample for leafy vegetables. The levels for peroxide value and free fatty acids (as percent oleic acid) of the spices are generally low indicating good storage stability of these plant materials. The flavour imparting essential oils (as percent oleoresin) content of the spices/herbs were fairly high and ranged from 0.1 to 5.2 percent.

Food resource partitioning of a community of snakes in a swamp rainforest of south-eastern Nigeria

Abstract: The food resource partitioning in a community of snakes from a moist rainforest of south-eastern Nigeria (Eket, Akwa-Ibom State) is studied in the present paper. The community consisted of 24 different species, belonging to different families and ecological guilds: some species were terrestrial, some were semi-aquatic, and others were arboreal. Six species were primarily mammal-eating, two were bird-eating, four were lizard-eating, three were frog-eating, one species fed on both mammals and birds, and one species fed on both fish and frogs. A UPGMA tree diagram showed that three clusters of snakes are formed on the basis of their diet composition: a cluster formed by the two large arboreal species (Dendroaspis jamesoni and Boiga blandingi), another formed by the group of the terrestrial mammal-eating Calabaria reinhardti, Bitis gabonica, and Bitis nasicornis, and the third cluster formed by the lizard-eating Psammophis phillipsi, Thelotornis kirtlandii, and Gastropyxis smaragdina. The relationships between these and the other taxa remain unclear. In terms of both frequency of occurrence of the various prey types and biomass contribution of each prey type, the semi-aquatic snakes showed the narrowest niche breadth values and the terrestrial snakes showed the widest niche breadth values. The overlap values were not significantly correlated with the rank of phylogenetic distance. The mean overlap values calculated between species belonging to a same guild were significantly higher than those calculated between species belonging to different guilds, but the mean overlap values between species belonging to a same guild did not differ significantly among guilds. Prey size and predator size (total length) were positively correlated. There was no statistically significant difference between snake guilds as far as mean prey size is concerned, but the various species within each guild differed significantly in terms of mean prey size.