Oluwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe

• B.Sc, M.Sc. Ph.D (Botany), MBA (Unilag), FLS; FAAS; FAS
• Professor & 12th Vice Chancellor (2017-2022) University of Lagos at University of Lagos

This study aimed to gain insights into the diversity and use of the collections of the Lagos University Herbarium (LUH), Nigeria. A total of 1509 species representing 188 plant families in 57 plant orders were recorded. This comprises dicotyledons (1260); monocotyledons (217); ferns (29); moss (1); conifers (1); and macro algae (1). About 1007 spec...

The tribe Bauhinieae is the largest and most taxonomically complex group within the subfamily Cercidoideae. They possess the most distinguishable morphological features but are the most variable group. Here, we explore the phylogenetic relationship of the tribe Bauhinieae using morphological, anatomical and molecular data (ITS, rbcL, trnL-F, ITS+rb...

Leafy vegetables are important in human nutrition; however, their diversity as seen in the dishes in South western Nigeria appears to be diminishing. Many popular delicacies are no longer available in the markets. Therefore, this research was conducted to identify and document leafy vegetables in South West Nigeria, assess their ethnobotanical uses...

Purpose of Review Biodiversity remains an immense source of benefit to mankind and a major contributor to his well-being. Severe loss of biodiversity necessitated the conservation of a part of the biodiversity hotspots as protected areas. Despite this initiative, a sizable part of the conserved hotspots was still lost to anthropogenic factors among...

The cultivation of fonio in Western Africa has been greatly hindered by the low amount of rainfall. Crop failure due to drought has been widely reported in Nigeria, which has led to research on different crops with paucity of information on fonio. The present study evaluated six drought genotypes of fonio to determine their physiological and bioche...

Drought is a major abiotic factor that reduces cowpea yield significantly. There is need to identify true drought tolerant cowpea genotypes to aid the breeding process. The aim of the study was to screen and identify drought tolerance genotypes of cowpea. A total of 39 cowpea lines were planted in triplicates and the seedlings were watered daily fo...

The present study investigates the floral diversity of the Lagos coastal environments by sampling 21 points using the quadrat method. The study revealed two major aquatic ecosystem types (mangrove and freshwater swamp) and recorded 125 species belonging to 108 genera and 49 families. While Alchornea cordifolia and Raphia hookeri were found as the m...

A preliminary checklist of the Orchidaceae of Gashaka Gumti National Park (GGNP) is presented, based on previous reports on the flora of GGNP and recent botanical explorations. The results from this study recorded 80 orchid species in 38 genera. The collection consists of 84% epiphytes and 16% terrestrial orchids. The genera with highest number of...

The gradual decline in cowpea production in Nigeria, the largest cowpea producing country, has been of concern. Hence, assessment of challenges and constraints to cowpea production among small holder farmers in some cowpea producing states was carried out using 150 randomly selected respondents. These farmers were selected from communities in four...

Land-use and cover change reflects choices in natural resource governance. Despite heavy targets on the forest and woodland, the southwest Nigeria states have little quantitative information on the magnitude and direction of land-use change across the states. This drives unsustainable land management and deforestation. This study utilized vegetatio...

The success of any hybridization outcome in cowpea is dependent on temperature and humidity, which affect flower initiation, pollen fertility and pod setting. The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal environmental parameters (temperature and humidity) favorable for a successful hybridization outcome in selected cowpea accessions. A to...

Pollen grains and spores were deployed for the investigation of criminal cases, at the University of Lagos, Akoka, with proof and disproving of alibis. Evidence was retrieved from suspects' shoes, earlobes, nostrils and clothing using pinch method. The recovered evidences were subjected to standard forensic laboratory procedures. A total of 23 paly...

Vegetation composition and structural diversity are important for biodiversity conservation and forest carbon storage.. Less attention has been paid to tropical forest vegetation characteristics and the carbon stock across different pools in Nigeria. This study presents the results of a rapid assessment and exploratory estimate of the woody species...

A taxonomic study was carried out of members of the genus Placodiscus represented in West Africa and Cameroon, in order to present complementary data on adequate recognition of the species. A total of thirteen species were assessed based on quantitative and qualitative macro-morphological and foliar epidermal characters. The findings have shown tha...

Pollen and fungal spores (aerospora) are major atmospheric bioaerosols for pollen allergy sufferers. Aerospora types and concentration vary seasonally, depending upon the flowering period and meteorological factors which are variable in different geographical regions. The aim of this study was to analyze a two-year record of aerospora from two loca...

Rapid loss in flora diversity, changing patterns of vegetation and land use patterns in the University of Lagos Akoka campus has necessitated investigation on the herb and grass species so as to determine their composition, structure and diversity within the area. Twenty sampling plots of 10m x 10m each were studied in five selected locations using...

In order to reduce the numbers of inmates awaiting trials as a result of lack of evidences for prosecution, botanical evidences such as pollen grains and spores could act as a silent witness due to their microscopic nature and their ability to vary from one location to another. This necessitated the present study undertaken with a view to establish...

Snakebites are a major health concern in rural Nigeria which have led to high mortality and suffering in victims due to lack of basic social amenities, ill-equipped hospitals, costly treatments and distance to hospitals. An alternative to treat snakebites is the utilization of herbal invigorating plants however traditional knowledge about plants us...

Zanha golungensis Hiern. is one of the commonly used species of Sapindaceae in Nigeria owing to its medicinal properties; however, taxonomic data on the species are limited. In this study, morphological, anatomical and phytochemical characters of the leaf and stem of Z. golungensis were assessed with a view to add to existing literature on the spec...

This study aimed at carrying out the vegetative propagation of Griffonia simplicifolia. This was achieved by growing nodal and stem cuttings of G. simplicifolia using two types of soils under varying environmental conditions including open area and humidity propagator. This revealed that terminal nodal stem cuttings showed the best growth forms in...

Global climate change and the uncertainty of fossil fuel has led to the search for sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives. This study is aimed at generation of biogas from organic wastes. Five digesters were constructed. Substrates such as food waste (FDW), fruit waste (FTW), and sawdust (SD) were used while cow dung (CD) was the ino...

Abstract The genus Pancovia comprises economically important plants native to Africa. Here, a systematic study was carried out on six species of Pancovia with a view to elucidate the significance of their characters for identification purposes. Morphological and leaf epidermis characters of the plants were assessed based on herbarium specimens. Use...

Members of the genus Acacia Mill. are characterized by numerous stamens, which are sometimes fused at the base, and contain a calyx that is valvate in its bud. However, these key features are not consistent in all Acacia species thus causing some identification complications. To gain insight into the diversity of the species, members belonging to 8...

The Lagos coastal environment, a very delicate assemblage of coastal ecosystems, lies in the tropical lowland forest zone of southwest Nigeria. This paper analyses the long-term present and future climatic trend over the Lagos coastal environment using historical station-measured rainfall and temperature data for Ikeja, Lagos Island and Ijebu Ode s...

Pollen and spores obtained from sediments of Ologun in the east Lagos coastal environment were analyzed, in order to reconstruct vegetation in the past and infer the paleoclimate. Sediments were collected by universal peat corer and palynomorphs were recovered following the standard palynological procedures. A total of 503 palynomorphs were recover...

In this study we present a method for the extraction of genomic DNA from the different tissues of the Pepper (Capsicum annuum). A standard protocol of Dellaporta was reviewed and modified for DNA extraction from the preserved tissues of the Capsicum sample which was believed to contain high level of polysaccharides. The modified protocol employed y...

Capsicum peppers are among the most popular horticultural crops produced and consumed worldwide. This study aimed to assess the occurrence of spoilage fungi responsible for post-harvest losses in the most common varieties of Capsicum peppers collected from retail markets in Nigeria and Ghana. Forty fungal isolates belonging to 7 families, 8 genera,...

A palynological study of recent sediments from Ijora Creek, an Urban Creek in Lagos, Southwestern Nigeria was carried out to provide inferences on paleovegetation and climate change over time in the study area. Two stations 90m apart were sampled at low tide in a boat using a Russian peat corer. Samples were taken at 10cm intervals and eighteen sed...

Background and Objective: Information from the distribution of palynomorphs is used to infer past vegetation changes and paleo-climatic settings, characteristic of a particular environment. This palynological studies aimed to assess the distribution of palynomorphs and reconstruct the past vegetation and make inferences on the paleoclimate of a lat...

Recent sediments from the coastal environment of Lagos East, Nigeria, were used to make a palynological reconstruction of the vegetation of the study area and to draw inferences about its palaeoclimate. A total of 8456 palynomorphs were recovered, dominated by pollen grains of Poaceae (13.96%), Cyperaceae (6.23%), Alchornea cordifolia Müll-Arg (8.3...

The tribe Acacieae is one of the three tribes of the distinct mimosoid clade nested within the re-circumscribed sub-family Caesalpinioideae. Many uncertainties exist with the taxonomic status of tribe Acacieae in relation to tribe Ingeae and genus Acacia. To unravel the phylogenetic patterns within Acacieae, nine members of the tribe were phylogene...

Callosobruchus maculatus Fab. is a major threat to cowpea production reducing the quality, quantity and market value of cowpea grains. A cheap and easy identification method would be a valuable tool in identifying and breeding resistant genotypes in the vast cowpea germplasm. Hence, the purpose of the study was to identify and evaluate the genetics...

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is an economically important tropical fruit consumed all over the world. So far, little attention has been paid towards the documentation and characterization of its cultivars. Occupying a unique position among edible fruit crops in Nigeria, information on the exact number of cultivars has not been recorded, leading t...

Solanum L., is the largest genus of the family Solanaceae with over 2,000 species. Considering their worldwide distribution, a remarkably high level of morphological diversity has manifested at the species, the cultivar and the generic levels. This coupled with the crossability affinities between S. melongena and other distantly related Solanum spe...

Three hundred and ninety accessions comprising 260 cultivated and 130 wild cowpea accessions were evaluated phenotypically using 27 cowpea descriptors. Morphological evaluation of some qualitative traits revealed 11.92% and 29.23% presence of pigmentation on the stem, 1.53% and 20.76% presence of stripes on the pod, and 0% and 20% presence of hairi...

Drought is one of the greatest threats affecting agricultural productivity in sub-Sahara Africa. In view of this, the present study was aimed at screening for drought tolerance in Acha. The status of seventy - five collections from thirty - four towns in seventeen Local Government Areas of the five northern states were evaluated at the National Cen...

As part of the sustainable wood resource supply and ecosystems management strategies, colonial Nigeria government designated/gazetted some areas as forest reserves. These reserves have over the years suffered from poor inventory, depletion and poor management. This study carried out an inventory of the status and land-cover changes in forest reserv...

Acha is a crop endowed with wealth of nutritional and medicinal uses, yet the rate at which the crop is being lost is at alarming rate. Hence, the need for germplasm collection, preservation and utilization for future improvement. This study carried out exploration trip on Acha collections (Digitaria exilis and Digitaria iburua) with a view to un...

The need for efficient storage of cowpea grains against post-harvest loss by Callosobruchus maculatus has led subsistent farmers to adopt different storage methods. The methods adopted are influenced by cost, simplicity and availability of materials. The use of cold storage and containers amongst the adopted techniques are evaluated for their effic...

Ten acha accessions (Digitaria sp.) collected from Kaduna (K1, K2, K3, K4 and K5), Nassarawa (NA1 and NA2) and Niger (NI1, NI2 and NI3) States, in the Northern parts of Nigeria were evaluated for their size (length and width) of corticated and decorticated grains and shape, number of nerves on the abaxial and adaxial surfaces of the glumes and vari...

Pollen and spores have been found as major biological sources of morbidity among individuals sensitive to respiratory disorders. The aim of the present study was to analyse the deposition rate of atmospheric pollen and fern spores at selected sites in Benue and Plateau states of the North-Central Nigeria between July 2015 and June 2016. This was ac...

Climate change is predicted to impact species’ genetic diversity and distribution. We used Senegalia senegal (L.) Britton, an economically important species distributed in the Sudano-Sahelian savannah belt of West Africa, to investigate the impact of climate change on intraspecific genetic diversity and distribution. We used ten nuclear and two pla...

Proportion of membership of each predefined population in each of the inferred clusters at both K = 2 and K = 3. (DOCX)

List of haplotypes detected at two cpSSR loci in 13 populations of Senegalia senegal. Population YUS is characterized by 2 two unique haplotypes that are not present in any other population. Private haplotypes are highlighted in grey/bold. (DOCX)

Matrix of pairwise FST values based on allele data at ten nuclear (above diagonal) and two chloroplast SSR (above diagonal) loci among 13 populations of Senegalia senegal. Most of the values estimated for both marker types were significant (P ≤ 0.001). For abbreviations of populations see Table 1. (DOCX)

Plots for detecting the number of K groups that best fit the data according to [48]. (A) Delta K and (B) Plot of mean likelihood L (K) and variance per K value from STRUCTURE on a dataset containing 287 individuals genotyped for ten nSSR. (TIF)

List of variables used for modelling the distribution of Senegalia senegal in West Africa. (DOCX)

Genetic characteristics of ten nuclear SSR loci in 13 populations of Senegalia senegal (N = 297). (DOCX)

Predicted area (%) gain or loss of Senegalia senegal relative to the current distribution under four future climate scenarios (RCP’s) as estimated by two models (CCSM4, GISSER2) for 2050 and 2070. (TIF)

Genetic characteristics of two chloroplast microsatellite markers and result of genotyping in S. senegal (N = 303). (DOCX)

Plot of sensitivity vs. specificity. Area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.958 indicates the accuracy of the model prediction. (TIF)

Processes shaping the African Guineo-Congolian rain forest, especially in the West African part, are not well understood. Recent molecular studies, based mainly on forest tree species, confirmed the previously proposed division of the western African Guineo-Congolian rain forest into Upper Guinea (UG) and Lower Guinea (LG) separated by the Dahomey...

Geographic coordinates (longitude, latitude) used for distribution modelling. (DOC)

List of Chasmanthera dependens samples and experiments. Country codes follow ISO 3166–1 Alpha-3. UNN—University of Nigeria, Nuskka, rd–road. Collector abbreviation: CAI–Chibuzor Andrew Iloh. (DOC)

Correlation coefficients between 19 climatic variables extracted for Chasmanthera dependens. Bold font highlights the absolute values greater than 0.8. (DOC)

AFLP data matrix. Ind–sample number, Pop–population. Numbers in the first line indicate the size of the fragments [bp]. (XLSX)

A brief historical taxonomic sketch as well as distribution of Sapindaceae in West Africa, Cameroon and Madagascar is presented based on extensive study of herbaria and field collections. The infrafamilial taxonomy of the family Sapindaceae was re-examined using both qualitative and quantitative morphological characters. A total of 17 vegetative an...

The genus Afzelia Sm. (Fabaceae) represents one of the most useful tree species in tropical Africa. These trees have huge socioeconomic and ecological importance, but are under serious threat from incessant exploitation. This has caused a decline of the species in the wild; several species are now registered as threatened and endangered in the IUCN...

The ambient atmosphere is dominated with pollen and spores, which trigger allergic reactions and diseases and impact negatively on human health. A survey of pollen and fungal spores constituents of the atmosphere of Garki, Abuja (North-Central Nigeria) was carried out for 1 year (June 1, 2011–May 31, 2012). The aim of the study was to determine the...

Sapindaceae Jussieu is a family of flowering plants in the Order Sapindales. Members of the family exist as trees and shrubs, and tendril-bearing vines with about 140-150 genera and 1400-2000 species worldwide. They are economically, medicinally and aesthetically useful. This research aimed at exploring the diversity of Sapindaceae in West and Cent...

Solanum L., the largest genus of the family Solanaceae with over 2,000 species includes perennial shrubs, herbs, or trees, with or without spines, glabrous or pubescent with unbranched or branched, often glandular hairs. Considering their worldwide distribution, a remarkably high level of morphological diversity has manifested at the species, the c...

Purpose: To evaluate the acute and sub-acute toxicity profile of the aqueous leaf extract of Nymphaea lotus L in Wistar rats. Methods: Acute toxicity study was performed by administering a single oral dose of 5000 mg/kg body weight of the extract to 5 rats while distilled water was given to another 5 rats (control), and the animals were observed fo...

Aeropalynological study was conducted in three different locations in the University of Lagos, Akoka campus from the month of April to June 2014. This project aims at surveying the abundance of airborne palynomorphs and their variation with time. Pollen traps were constructed using buckets, filled with a mixture of 50 ml of glycerol, 10 ml of forma...

This study investigates the rate of concurrent depletion on the remnant flora growing in the northeastern part of Lagos, which lies in the south-western part of Nigeria. Tree species growing in this area are not spared from advancing civilization, which has resulted in inevitable loss of genetic resources. Hence, molecular technique is adopted in a...

The common name “Eggplant” is given to vegetables of several Solanum L. species that are important for human diet and health. The taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships among these taxa are currently unclear due to its large size and tropical center of diversity. This study assessed the genetic diversity in forty nine eggplant and related Solanum...

One of the major challenges faced by biologist during field studies is the identification of plant species and this is most evident in the tropics where biodiversity richness is very high. Hence this study was conducted in order to document and produce a guide for the identification of the diversity of life forms that represents the family Sapindac...

Forty eight accessions of cultivated cowpea were assessed using 12 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) dendrogram constructed revealed three main clusters when truncated at 65% similarity coefficient. All accessions showed high genetic variation except four which are genetically simila...

The taxonomy of Solanum melongena L. also known as brinjal eggplant has remained difficult because previous studies to establish genetic relationships among taxa are mainly based on morphological features, which are insufficient to establish genetic affinities. In the present investigation, five highly polymorphic random amplified polymorphic DNA p...

The following checklist is provided as the most complete compilation of the tree species growing on Akoka Campus of University of Lagos, south-western Nigeria. This checklist was derived from extensive field survey, with the view of investigating the concurrent depletion on the remnant flora and inventory of all the tree species. Data collection wa...

Solanum L., the largest genus of the Solanaceae family, vary morphologically, is diverse in number and is ecogeographically distributed. In Nigeria, previous studies had focused mainly on chromosome morphology, genome description and medicinal values, which are insufficient for genetic affinities. This study used four highly polymorphic random ampl...

Various species of Pteridophytes and Bryophytes abound in the Nigerian Neogene as revealed by palynomorph records. One of the commonest is Sphagnum species with spores which are normally with smooth exine (Stereisporites spp.), which are of three types. These appear to have evolved close to the Early Late Miocene much before those with varied sculp...

The resistance of cowpea to bruchid infestation has been a major concern to plant breeders as some elite cowpea varieties become susceptible to the polymorphic nature of this storage insect pest. The current status of ten bruchid resistant varieties collected from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria was evalu...

Melons belong to the family Cucurbitaceae; it is one of the most important cash crops globally. Their demand is in a very high quantity, especially here in Nigeria. In order to improve the yield of this highly demanded crop, a study was under taken to ascertain the pattern of its genetic diversity. During this study, eighteen melon cultivars sample...

Biostratigraphy is a very useful tool in exploration and production among other disciplines. Reports abound in different parts of the world highlighting the use of dinoflagellate cysts abundance and diversity peaks apart from foraminiferal and nannofossil data in stratigraphic age delineation. Appreciable numbers of well preserved dinoflagellate cy...

The valuable oil obtained from the kernel of the African oil palm, Elaeis guineensis was used for the production of biodiesel fuel (BDF). A prototype production plant based on hetero-sonic agitation was designed, fabricated and tested in the Hardware Development Laboratory. The produced plant was used to investigate the effect of hetero-sonic mixin...

This study was conducted using qualitative and quantitative morphology to characterise and group different representative species of the family Sapindaceae in Africa. The morphological characters used included leaf, stem and fruit. Essentially, the similarities among various taxa in the family were estimated. A total of 28 genera and 106 species we...

Studies on dermatophytes isolated from patients in tertiary health institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria were carried out between August, 2009 and January, 2011. Collection, isolation, characterization and identification of the isolated fungi were achieved using both conventional laboratory methods (in vitro culture and microscopy) and molecular tec...

The genus possesses a suite of leaf epidermal characteristics which reflect the affinities among the species. The most generic constant features are anomocytic stomatal type and undulate anticlinal wall pattern on the abaxial surface. Whereas the species distinguishing features include paracytic stomata which were recorded only in L. breviflora, hy...

The species are generally amphistomatic except Pandiaka heudelotii that is hypostomatic. Anomocytic and paracytic stomatal types were mostly found but cyclocytic and diacytic types may accompany, especially in Cyathula spp. The anticlinal wall pattern varies from undulate to curved and curvedstraight in the family. Other useful epidermal features a...

Modeling studies were carried out on Chrysophyllum albidum, an important economic species in Nigeria. This study attempts to estimate the occurrence, and at the same time investigate the major climatic factors responsible for the geographical distribution of the species in South-West part of the country using Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) program. A tot...

This paper aims at documenting species belonging to the family Sapindaceae in West Africa. Samples were collected for 2years (May 2008 – April 2010) using random sampling from various sites including botanic gardens and forest reserves. One hundred and four taxa were observed encompassing 26 genera: Allophylus (16), Aporrhiza (3), Blighia (3), Card...