Intl. J. of Mol. Evol. and Biodivers. 2013, Vol. 3, No.2, 5-10
http://ijmeb.sophiapublisher.com
5
Research Report Open Access
Socio-economic Impact of Seasonal Wildfire on Forest and Wildlife Biodiversity
in Ogun State
J.A. Soaga
,
A.L.A. Shotuyo
,
J.G. Fatoki
Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
Corresponding author email:
soagaj@yahoo.com
;
Authors
International Journal of Molecular Evolution and Biodiversity, 2013, Vol.3, No.2 doi: 10.5376/ijmeb.2013.03.0002
Received: 03 Apr., 2013
Accepted: 12 Apr., 2013
Published: 08 Jul., 2013
Copyright © 2013 Soaga et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Soaga et al., 2013, Socio-economic impact of seasonal wildfire on forest and wildlife biodiversity in ogun state, International Journal of Molecular Evolution
and Biodiversity, Vol.3, No.2, 5~10 (doi: 10.5376/ijmeb.2013.03.0002)
Abstract
The paper examined socio-economic impact of seasonal wildfire on biodiversity in Ogun State, especially in plantations
and farmlands. Wildfire destroys ecosystems with loss of habitat and genetic resources. However, wildfire generally has historical
record of its use as a tool by early man for clearing forest for agriculture to increase food production due to rising population. The
forest is cleared and burnt despite providing array of goods and invaluable ecological services. The forest provides habitat for
wildlife and once destroyed the fauna resources is equally destroyed. Consequently, if wildfire is prevented man stand to gain a lot
from the conservation effort especially on genetic resources that will be protected within the forest. An evaluation of losses revealed
that 70% of Nigeria’s tree populations are lost annually to forest fire with forest crop valued at over 19 million naira. Yet the sources
of fires have not changed – natural and artificial. The artificial source resulting from human activities towards economic
emancipation remained the major source of concern with rising population and increasing demand for food. Field experiments at
Forestry research Institute of Nigeria showed that both early and late burning have effect on tree population with late burning having
major effect on tree population. Late burning recorded 54% survival for trees, early burning 69.8% and protected plot recorded
73.8%
survival. This indicates that wildfire should be prevented from all ecosystems and vegetation. Animal species however
recorded highest number of 22species in farmland after using fire as a tool in land preparation with secondary regrowth recording the
least population of 107. The effect of fire on plants and animals therefore underscore the need for prevention of wildfire and
conservation to reduce ecosystem destruction, animal susceptibility to diseases, wildlife destruction and consequent genetic erosion
of biodiversity in Ogun State. It is therefore recommended that policy statement must ensure enforcement and compliance with
legislation on wildfire across the state.
Keywords
Biodiversity, Early burning, Late burning, Genetic erosion, Ecosystem destruction
Introduction
There are social and ecological problems associated
with seasonal wildfire on forest and wildlife resources
in Ogun State. These problems include loss of habitat,
ecosystem destruction and loss of genetic biodiversity
(
Shotuyo, 2011). Seasonal wildfire results from
indiscriminate setting of fire to vegetation during land
preparation or in wildlife conservation areas. Brown
and Davis (1973) reported that fire is a rapid,
persistent chemical reaction that releases heat and
light especially the exothermic combination of
substances with oxygen. Such reaction is
distinguished by magnitude, destructive power, utility
or intensity. However, history reveals that fire is one
of the earliest known tools used by man. In Nigeria or
other parts of the world, man used fire to clear forest
for agricultural purposes especially to increase food
production. Specifically, in Nigeria, a farmer uses fire
for his field clearing, a hunter in his game activities
and a grazier in his pasture improvement efforts.
These uses are exacerbated with the increasing
population and intensified land use, resulting from
increased demand for food supplies. Forest resources
consist of an extremely wide diversity of flora and
fauna; genetic resources which offer a broad array of
goods and services with potential utilitarian
application in agriculture, pharmaceutical industry,
construction industry and rendered invaluable benefits
and services especially in environmental protection.
Falconer (1990) maintained that forests are