Impact of Human Activities on Biodiversity in Nigerian Aquatic Ecosystems

Abstract

The human race has 850 million members when it entered the industrial age, sharing earth with life forms nearly as diverse as the planet has ever possessed. In the 20th Century, it became obvious that biological resources have limits and that we are exceeding those limits and thereby reducing biodiversity. Biodiversity is the term used to describe the total variety of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microbes) that exist on our planet. The biodiversity of Nigerian aquatic ecosystems is increasingly being destroyed or depleted by persistent threat of sediment pollution, organic pollution, eutrophication, acidification, heavy metals and organochlorines, thermal pollution, nuclear pollution, human introductions (voluntary or accidental) and oil pollution. This is the aftermath of intense human activities such as indiscriminate use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture, industrialization, urbanization, pressure due to rapid population growth; malutilization and mismanagement of natural aquatic resource; dam, road and bridge construction; irrigation; draining and filling of wetlands; petroleum exploration, exploitation and refining as well as the transportation, storage, marketing and use of petroleum products. The rapid decline in biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems in Nigeria could be reversed if there is sound engineering solutions based on ecological awareness. This should be determined on the basis of sound scientific evaluations of the existing resources and the carrying capacity of the ecosystem.