International Journal of Mol. Ecol. and Conserv 2015, Vol.5, No.7, 1-10
7
Table 3 Distributions of the various families encountered in all the sacred forests
Families
Odim
Akerot
Evat
Quna
Akai
Uya
Akai Anwa
Ibok
Utai
Ikot
Akoho
Itit
Abaam
Itak
Akai
Mbiam
Rema
rk
Agavaceae
*
NC
Annonaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Anacardiaceae
*
*
*
*
NC
Apocynaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Arecaceae
*
*
NC
Aviceniaceae
*
NC
Bombacaceae
*
*
*
NC
Bignoniaceae
*
*
*
*
NC
Bursaraceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
C*
Clusiaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Combretaceae
*
*
NC
Ebenaceae
*
*
*
*
C
Euphorbaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Fabaceae*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Flacourtiaceae
*
NC
Hypericaceae
*
*
*
NC
Irvingiaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
C
Lecythiaceae
*
NC
Meliaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
C
Moraceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Myristicaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Olacaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
C
Passifloraceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Polygalaceae
*
*
NC
Rhizophoraceae
*
*
*
*
*
C
Rosaceae
*
NC
Rubiaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Rutaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Samydaceae
*
*
*
NC
Sapindaceae
*
NC
Sapotaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Sterculiaceae
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
VC
Tiliaceae
*
*
NC
Ulmaceae
*
*
NC
Total
18
19
19
20
21
19
22
17
NC* = Not Common; VC* = Very Common; C* = Common
*Fabaceae comprises Caesalpiniaceae, Mimosaceae and Papilionaceae
Index (Table 2). This agrees with studies by Onyekwelu
et al., (2005), Ukpong et al., (2012), Udoakpan et al.,
(2013) and Jacob et al., (2015) that Nigeria tropical
lowland rainforests is dominated by members of
Sterculiaceae
,
Moraceae
,
Meliaceae
,
Euphorbaceae
,
Mimosaceae
(
Fabaceae
),
Apocynaceae
etc.
Diversity index is a measure of variety of species (Sax,
2002) or the number of species and individuals
(Spellerberg and Fedor, 2003) in an area. According to
Ekeke et al., (2005), any species having a diversity
index greater than one (> 1) is regarded as rich in
relation to the area while the species with a less than 1
(< 1) diversity index referred to as being less dense.
The result obtain in Table 2 therefore reaffirms that
the vegetation type of the studied sacred forests is a
lowland rainforest, which is noted for its high number
of species per square area (Gomez-pompa and Burley,
1991; Nokoe, 1993).
