Roles of human activities on the status (live or dead) of an endangered pearl mussels <i>Margaritifera margaritifera</i> (L.) In River Baissa, Taraba State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Samples of freshwater Pearl Mussels were collected from four (4) different sites, which are the major point of access by the resident. Simple random sampling was used in laying five sample plots across the four study sites and samples of live and dead Pearl Mussels were collected, counted, and returned to their habitat. Data were analysed using Chi-square statistics, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and a T-test at α=0.05 was used. Sites’ effects on the species’ status (live and dead) were identified: Kogin Pastor (KP), Kogin Mata (KM), Kogin Maza (KZ), and Kogin Demcho (KD). A Chi-square value of 29.728 and p-value of 0.00 was observed on sites’ effect on species status. This showed that species status depends on location/sites. That is, for a species to survive or die, it largely depends on the location which in turn is a product of human activities carried out. There was no significant difference (p=0.727) in the dead sample collected across the four study locations. While the live sample contrary to the dead sample, significantly differs (p=0.007) across the study sites. The live and dead samples of pearl mussels differ significantly (p=0.037), which signifies that the live and dead samples were not in the same proportion giving hope of restoration of this species. The study site of KP was relatively suitable for this species to strive as it was significantly different from KM and KZ which are the most disturbed among them all, which was attributed to the fact that, fewer social activities and disturbances of any kind are minimum.