Aspects of species richness and seasonality of amphibians and reptiles in the Coastal Barrier Island of Brass (Nigeria)

Abstract

— The ecology of the communities of amphibians and reptiles are nearly unknown in the coastal barrier island forests of the Niger Delta, southern Nigeria. In this paper, we examine aspects of species richness and phenology of amphibians and reptiles at several sites of Brass Island, one of the main coastal
barrier islands of Nigeria. We employed a suite of field methods to capture specimens, and performed an equal field effort during both dry and wet seasons. Overall, we captured 31 species belonging to 17 families.
For amphibians, we collected one species of Pipidae and Ranidae, and two of Ptychadenidae, Bufonidae, and Hyperoliidae. For reptiles, we captured one species of Agamidae, Varanidae, Chamaeleonidae, Typhlopidae, Viperidae, and Pelomedusidae, two of Boidae, Testudinidae and Crocodylidae, three of Scincidae and
Elapidae, and five of Colubridae sensu lato. Fewer species were found in coastal barrier island forests than in swamp forests, mangroves or derived savannas of the Niger Delta. There was no clear seasonal effect on reptile abundance and diversity (but most species were found essentially by dry season), whereas for amphibians there was a strong seasonal effect, with higher abundances and species diversity found in wet season.

Full text

Rev. Écol. (Terre Vie), vol. 65, 2010.
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ASPECTS OF SPECIES RICHNESS AND SEASONALITY OF AMPHIBIANS AND
REPTILES IN THE COASTAL BARRIER ISLAND OF BRASS (NIGERIA)
Godfrey C. AkAn i1, Luca Lu iseL Li2, Anthony E. Ogb eib u3, John N. On wu te Ak A1,
Edith Chu ku 1, J.A OsAk we 4, Pierluigi bO m b i 2, Charity C. Am u z i e 1,
Michael uwA gb Ae 5 & Harry A. gijO6
RÉSUMÉ. — Aspects de la richesse spécique et de la saisonnalité des amphibiens et reptiles de l’île-
barrière côtière de Brass (Nigéria). — L’écologie des communautés d’amphibiens et de reptiles des forêts
des îles-barrières côtières du delta du Niger, sud du Nigéria, est pratiquement inconnue. Dans cet article nous
examinons la richesse spécique et la saisonnalité des amphibiens et reptiles en divers sites de l’île de Brass,
l’une des principales îles-barrières du Nigéria. Nous avons utilisé une série de méthodes pour capturer des
spécimens et conduire un effort de terrain équilibré durant les saisons sèche et humide. En tout, 31 espèces
appartenant à 17 familles ont été capturées. En ce qui concerne les amphibiens, nous avons collecté une
espèce pour les Pipidés et les Ranidés, deux pour les Ptychadénidés, Bufonidés et Hyperoliidés. En reptiles,
nous avons capturé une espèce pour les Agamidés, Varanidés, Chamaeléonidés, Typhlopidés, Vipéridés et
Pélomédusidés, deux pour les Boïdés, Testudinidés et Crocodylidés, trois pour les Scincidés et Elapidés,
cinq pour les Colubridés sensu lato. Moins d’espèces ont été trouvées dans les forêts d’île-barrière côtière
que dans les forêts marécageuses, mangroves ou savanes dérivées du delta du Niger. Il n’est pas apparu d’ef-
fet saison clair sur l’abondance et la diversité des reptiles (mais la plupart des espèces ont essentiellement
été trouvées en saison sèche) alors que, pour les amphibiens, un tel effet s’est avéré fort, avec de plus fortes
abondances et diversités spéciques en saison des pluies.
sUMMARY. — The ecology of the communities of amphibians and reptiles are nearly unknown in the
coastal barrier island forests of the Niger Delta, southern Nigeria. In this paper, we examine aspects of spe-
cies richness and phenology of amphibians and reptiles at several sites of Brass Island, one of the main coas-
tal barrier islands of Nigeria. We employed a suite of eld methods to capture specimens, and performed an
equal eld effort during both dry and wet seasons. Overall, we captured 31 species belonging to 17 families.
For amphibians, we collected one species of Pipidae and Ranidae, and two of Ptychadenidae, Bufonidae,
and Hyperoliidae. For reptiles, we captured one species of Agamidae, Varanidae, Chamaeleonidae, Typhlo-
pidae, Viperidae, and Pelomedusidae, two of Boidae, Testudinidae and Crocodylidae, three of Scincidae and
Elapidae, and ve of Colubridae sensu lato. Fewer species were found in coastal barrier island forests than
in swamp forests, mangroves or derived savannas of the Niger Delta. There was no clear seasonal effect on
reptile abundance and diversity (but most species were found essentially by dry season), whereas for amphi-
bians there was a strong seasonal effect, with higher abundances and species diversity found in wet season.
1 Department of Applied and Environmental Biology, Rivers State University of Science & Technology, P.M.B.
5080, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
2 Author for correspondence. Centre for Environmental Studies, DEMETRA, s.r.l. and F.I.Z.V. (Ecology), via
Olona 7, I-00198, Rome, Italy. E-mail : lucamlu@tin.it
3 Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, University of Benin, Benin city, Edo State. Nigeria
4 Department of Crop Science / Soil Science, Rivers State University of Science & Technology, P.M.B. 5080, Port
Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
5 Department of Zoology, Ambrose Alli University, P.M.B 14,Ekpoma,Edo State, Nigeria.
6 Department of Biological Sciences, Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

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The Niger Delta ecoregion (total area of approximately 15,000 km2), contained within
three states, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Delta, in southern Nigeria, is currently an important area
in tropical Africa not only because it hosts a high richness and diversity of species, including
several endemic taxa (e.g., the monkeys Cercopithecus sclateri and Procolobus badius epieni;
e.g. Baker & Tooze, 2003; Baker & Olubode, 2007), but also because of its crucial relevance
for the continental economy, given that this is the main oil-producing area of the whole Africa
(e.g., Moffat & Linden, 1995; Singh et al., 1995; FCNL, 2004, 2006). This region has also
become known for the frequent cases of oil spills, with catastrophic consequences for the natu-
ral environment (e.g., Ajao & Anurigwo, 2002; Luiselli et al., 2006). The main vegetation type
of this region is the swamp forest, which is however currently very fragmented due to human
pressure (e.g., Singh et al., 1995). Along its southern side, the Niger Delta swamp forests are
separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a band of mangroves, which can reach up to 10 km inland
and that are the largest mangrove belt of the whole continent (Singh et al., 1995). In front of the
mangrove belt and close to the sea are coastal barrier islands often characterized by transitional
vegetation. These coastal barrier islands are virtually unknown in ecological terms, and even
their vertebrate faunas have never received any attention by scientists. Although in recent years
there has been considerable scientic research focused on community ecology of amphibians
and reptiles in the Niger Delta (e.g., Akani et al., 1999, 2008; Luiselli & Akani, 2002; Luiselli
et al., 2006), studies on coastal barrier island forests are virtually lacking. However, a recent
paper examined the herpetofauna community structure of another Niger Delta coastal area
(Akani & Luiselli, 2010).
Our aim in this study was to investigate the community composition, and its variations
in relation to seasonality (wet versus dry seasons), of reptiles and amphibians in the coastal
barrier island forests of Brass Island (Bayelsa State, Nigeria) and to compare these data
with previous studies conducted in other vegetation zones of the Niger Delta. This study
may be also of interest because the study area is currently under development due to the
establishment of the Brass Liqueed Natural Gas (LNG) project, that is one of the main
industrial project of the whole region being a joint venture of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the international oil companies Chevron-
Texaco, ConocoPhillips, and ENI International. Presently the vegetation is generally mature
(see below for more details), and after the construction of the LNG it is likely that the her-
petological community composition, distribution and abundance may change drastically. So
this study can serve as an ecological reference of what was available before the LNG was
built. Increase in human and industrial activities will certainly affect the ecology of the area
and the habitats of both amphibians and reptiles (e.g., Heinen, 1992; Germano et al., 2003;
Todd et al., 2007). Indeed, a very large area (over 2,280 hectares) is needed for various faci-
lities of the LNG (i.e., storage tank areas, loading areas, pipelines, industrial areas, ofces,
residential areas, etc), hence very serious alteration to the current habitat structure may be
expected.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
STUDY AREAS
The eld study was conducted in the onshore area of Brass Island (Long 6° 13’ to 6° 16’ E, Lat 4° 16’ to 4°
18’N), in the Brass Local Government Area (Bayelsa State, Nigeria) (Fig. 1). The sampling locality, coordinate ranges
and dominant vegetation type for each study site are given in Table I. The study area is characterized by an equatorial
climate, with a wet season (April to October) and a dry season (November to March), and with rather constant ambient
temperatures (27-34°C) year-round.
Four distinct vegetation types are distinguishable as one moves from the onshore towards the inland : (i) littoral
strand vegetation, (ii) freshwater swamp forest, (iii) mangrove swamp, and (iv) lowland forest. The littoral strand
vegetation marks the littoral zone, and protects the beach ridge forest from the open ocean environment. It is characterized
by small woody plants (e.g., Alchornea cordifolia, Oncoba spinosa, and Chryobalanus icaco) and low-growing scandent
shrubs and herbs such as Dalbergia escastaphyllum, Ipomoea mauritiana, Paspalum vaginatum, Conocarpus erectus,
and Hibiscus tiliaceus. This strand vegetation covers only 50 hectares or 2 % of the sampled area.

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Figure 1. — Map of Brass, including the study sites.
TABLE I
Details of sampled stations, including local name, coordinates, and dominant vegetation characteristics
Site (local name) Coordinate range Dominant vegetation
NAOC (Twon Brass) N419595.49 / E 33190.86 Freshwater swamp and lowland forest
Ewoama N422017.82 / E32689.05
and N422017.90 / E32729.58 Littoral strand vegetation / mangrove, swamp
Okpoama N424159.36 / E33922.19
and N424160.14 / E33962.02 Freshwater swamp and lowland forest
Diema N423198.24 / E32785.42
and N423198.24 / E32744.71 Littoral strand vegetation, swamp forest
St. Nicholas River N433867.10 / E37279.03
and N439675.02 / E34803.14 Littoral strand/ swamp /mangrove swamp
The freshwater swamp forest is a major vegetation type of the area, covering about 1848 hectares or 81 % of
the study area. The forest is seasonally ooded, exhibits only a single dominant stratum of trees such as Sacoglottis
gabonensis, Parinaria excelsa, Elaeis guineensis, Cleistopholis patens, Allanblekia oribunda, Macaranga spinosa,
Lophira alata, Raphia hookeri, Hallea ciliata, and Xylopia villosa. Because of the diverse timber-producing species
here, this type of habitat is highly exploited for timber.
The mangrove swamp occupies about 138 hectares or 6 % of the study area. Although smaller scattered patches
occur in the central and western parts at Ewoama and Okpoama, it is located mainly in the eastern part, that is, St.
Nicholas River area from where it spreads extensively towards the hinterland. The vegetation is co-dominated by pure
stands of Rhizophora racemosa and Avicennia africana. Two distinct zones are noticeable : the Avicennia zone along
the seaward side, and the Rhizophora zone, on the hinterland, above the high-tide level. Also of high frequency of
occurrence in this swamp is the screw pine, Pandanus candelabrum, followed by the exotic palm Nypa fructicans. The
swamp is highly disturbed through anthropogenic activities, as mangroves are favorite sources of fuel wood.
The lowland forest covers an estimated 243 hectares or 11 % of the study area. This forest holds a high diversity
of tree species and is primarily located around Okpoama area. The forest shows three distinct storeys and the canopy
is typically 5-6 m high, with occasional emergent trees up to 50 m. In general, there are wide shady patches within this
habitat type. Among the frequently occurring woody plants of the forest are Elaeis guineensis, Anthostema aubreyanum,
Hallea ciliata, Lophira alata, Symphonia globulifera, Uapaca heudelotii, etc. The undergrowth is thick, and the forest
oor is usually covered with thick cushions of leaf litter by dry season, that make favorable habitat for ground-dwelling
and burrowing species.

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PROTOCOL
Field samplings were conducted during both dry and wet seasons in 2007 and 2008. Overall, a team of 9 people
did the eld work, from 0800 h to 1800 h daily, for 10 consecutive days in the dry seasons of 2007 and 2008 (total dry
season sampling days = 20) and 10 consecutive days in the wet seasons of 2007 and 2008 (total wet season sampling
days = 20). Researches were suspended during night-time because of security reasons ; Brass is indeed in the middle
of a politically unstable area (International Crisis Group, 2007). Each day the team was split into two : while one team
inspected, counted, and released trapped individuals in the drift fences and pitfalls, the other team walked along forest
footpaths and edges searching for arboreal and ground-dwelling species, and lifting logs, planks, panels, leaf litter for
any hiding reptile/amphibian.
Two methods were used to detect amphibians and reptiles. These included drift fences with pitfall traps and
visual encounter surveys (VES). We also report individuals opportunistically captured by local people, although these
observations were not used in statistical analyses. Concerning drift fences with pitfalls, a total of 19 transects were
established and randomly distributed to reect two major habitats in Brass. Ten haphazard transects were established in
the seasonal rainforests situated behind NAOC Administrative Base at Twon-Brass, Ewoama, Okpoma, Diema while
nine transects were located around the mangrove swamp and dry forest patches at the shing settlements towards St.
Nicholas River (Fig. 1). Along each transect, a wooden drift fence, about 30 m long and 61 cm high was constructed
with 10 pitfall traps distributed at intervals of 3 m on either sides of the fences. Into each pitfall trap a large, black, plastic
bucket (measuring 75 cm in diameter and 1.2 m deep) was lowered. A total of 133 pitfall traps were inspected daily. All
trapped animals were identied to species, individually marked (toe clipping for lizards and amphibians ; ventral scale
clipping for snakes ; scute notching for turtles and tortoises) in order to avoid pseudo-replication, and released.
VES were conducted along line transects laid at ve sites in Brass Island. One sampling site was close to the
industrial installations of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC site). This area is characterized by heavy human impact
due to truck and ship movements, oil spills, and residential settlements. Main vegetation was secondary forest and
forest-derived grasslands. The other four areas (Ewoama, Okpoama, Diema, and St. Nicholas River) are sited on the
coastal barrier island of Brass at different linear distances from NAOC installations. All of these sites are characterized
by mature coastal rain forest habitat, with different levels of human impact. Anthropogenic disturbance at each site
was proportional to the relative distance from industrial installations. Field samplings were carried out both on sunny
and on cloudy days. Daily research was suspended when it was heavily showering. During line transects, conducted
along predened tracks, all the encountered specimens of amphibians and reptiles were captured by hand. The captured
animals were identied to species, sexed, individually marked, and then released at the capture point. For some genera
(Hyperolius, Afrixalus, and Typhlops), as identication in the eld to species level might have been questionable due to
unresolved taxonomic issues, we only considered the genus level for our analyses. In this case we applied a ‘morpho-
species’ approach. We did not collect vouchers for the problematic species because for the purposes of this study we did
not get authorization to kill specimens from the competent governmental authorities.
Taxonomy of Afrotropical amphibians and reptiles is still a controversial issue for many species, and even genera
and families. Thus, many taxa are often unstable in terms of their taxonomic position. For instance, a recent study
changed the taxonomic status and nomenclature for many Afrotropical genera (Frost et al., 2006), but many of these
changes have been considered unacceptable and the value of the whole paper has been questioned (Wiens, 2007). Here
we present for the problematic taxa both nomenclatures (Tab. II). Concerning the families, there is complication with
one amphibian and one reptilian families. The frog genus Ptychadena is here placed in the family Ptychadenidae instead
of Ranidae, whereas for ve species of snakes representing different lineages within the old family ‘Colubridae’ (i.e.,
species of the genera Grayia, Thelotornis, Psammophis, Mehelya, and Gastropyxis), we still consider them as belonging
to a same family, waiting for a more stable taxonomy of this controversial snake family.
Herpetofauna community composition of the different sites was compared in a UPGMA dendrogram by calculating
their dissimilarity in terms of Euclidean distance (single linkage) based on the relative specic abundance. In order to
evaluate the effect of seasonality (Gardner, 2007), we analysed separately data collected during dry and wet seasons. A
quantitative biodiversity analysis of each study area was done according to the following indices : Species diversity was
calculated using Margalef’s Diversity Index (Magurran, 2004) :
where S is the total number of species and N is the total number of individuals. We also calculated the Shannon’s
index :
where n is the number of individuals observed for each species and N is the total number of individuals observed
in each study area.
Evenness index of each study area was calculated by Pielou’s formula :
with H representing Shannon’s index and S the total number of species in each study area.
All tests were two-tailed, and alpha was set at 0.05. Interseasonal differences in terms of frequencies of individuals
sampled were assessed by χ2 test.

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RESULTS
Including all sites, we captured 31 species belonging to 17 families (Tab. II). For amphi-
bians, we collected one species of Pipidae and Ranidae, and two of Ptychadenidae, Bufonidae,
and Hyperoliidae. For reptiles, we captured one species of Agamidae, Varanidae, Chamaeleo-
nidae, Typhlopidae, Viperidae, and Pelomedusidae, two of Boidae, Testudinidae and Crocody-
lidae, three of Scincidae and Elapidae, and ve of Colubridae sensu lato.
Amphibians showed a strong among-species variation in terms of number of observed
individuals, with the most abundant species being captured 596 times (i.e., Silurana tropica-
lis), and with the least abundant species being found just 3-4 times (e.g., Hyperolius sp. and
Afrixalus sp.) (Tab. II). All of the amphibian species were more abundant during the wet season
(χ2 = 556.93, p < 0.001). Nonetheless, there were remarkable differences among species : for
instance, Ptychadena mascareniensis was 2.25 times more abundant in wet than in dry season
(χ2 = 16.98, p < 0.001), whereas Silurana tropicalis during the wet season was 22.8 times more
abundant than in dry season (χ2 = 500.19, p < 0.001), and the few individuals of Hyperolius
sp. and Afrixalus sp. were observed during the wet season only. Some species appeared wides-
pread within our study area : for instance, Amietophrynus maculatus was observed at all sites.
On the contrary, Ptychadena oxyrhynchus, Hyperolius sp., and Afrixalus sp. were encountered
in two sites only.
With regards to reptiles (Tab. II), Agama agama and Trachylepis afnis were the most
abundant and widespread species, being observed with very high numbers of individuals (184
and 292 respectively) in all of the sites. On the contrary, only one specimen of Python sebae
and one of Python regius were observed, while two individuals of Trachylepis maculilabris,
Chamaeleo gracilis, Typhlops sp., and Crocodylus suchus were collected. Reptiles were gene-
rally signicantly more abundant during the dry season (χ2 = 21.38, p < 0.001), with the excep-
tion of two chelonians (Kinixys homeana and Pelusios niger), which did not show differences
between dry and wet season (χ2 = 0.11, p = 0.74 and χ2 = 2.58, p = 0.11), and Varanus ornatus,
which was three times more abundant in the wet season (χ2 = 6.00, p < 0.05). In addition, the
few specimens of Trachylepis maculilabris, Chamaeleo gracilis, and Crocodylus suchus were
encountered in the wet season.
In general, the highest number of species and individuals was observed in NAOC,
Ewoama, and Okpoama, both in dry and wet seasons. Nevertheless, we observed seasonal
differences in biodiversity indexes : that is, NAOC had the highest number of species and
individuals in wet season but, at the same time, relatively low diversity (particularly H) and
evenness (Tab. III). On the contrary, in wet season, Diema had fewer species and individuals
but a relatively high diversity (mainly H) and evenness (Table III). Differently, St. Nicholas
River had low number of species and individuals, as well as low diversity and evenness, both
in dry and in wet seasons. These seasonal differences in terms of number of species and bio-
diversity parameters were more evident for amphibians than reptiles. In fact, in wet season
the number of amphibian species increased, but the evenness decreased. On the contrary, for
reptiles the general increase of number of individuals in dry season did not affect the biodi-
versity parameters, which remained relatively stable between dry and wet seasons. A similar
pattern of stability was also observed in the number of species.

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TABLE II
Summary of the number of individuals of the herpetofaunal species captured at each study site, during both the wet and the dry seasons, in the Niger Delta, Nigeria
Species Family NAOC
(dry) Ewoama
(dry) Okpoama
(dry) Diema
(dry) St. Nicholas
R (dry) NAOC
(wet) Ewoama
(wet) Okpoama
(wet) Diema
(wet) St. Nicholas
R (wet)
Amphibia Amietophrynus ( = Bufo) maculatus Bufonidae 11 8 5 2 3 42 17 15 7 3
Amietophrynus ( = Bufo) regularis Bufonidae 7 0 2 0 0 19 3 8 0 4
Ptychadena mascareniensis Ptychadenidae 27 2 5 1 0 53 25 18 3 0
Ptychadena oxyrhynchus Ptychadenidae 2 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 2 0
Hoplobatrachus occipitalis Ranidae 4 7 0 0 0 32 19 0 0 0
Silurana tropicalis Pipidae 16 9 0 0 0 429 14 128 0 0
Hyperolius sp. Hyperoliidae 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0
Afrixalus sp. Hyperoliidae 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0
Reptilia Agama agama Agamidae 56 16 38 2 1 32 9 20 7 3
Trachylepis afnis Scincidae 27 31 57 43 16 15 28 25 19 31
Trachylepis maculilabris Scincidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Lepidothyris ( = Lygosoma) fernandi Scincidae 0 13 28 3 2 0 5 23 3 0
Varanus ornatus Varanidae 4 6 6 0 0 7 2 9 0 0
Chamaeleo gracilis Chamaeleonidae 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Typhlops sp. Typhlopidae 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Causus maculatus Viperidae 3 0 5 2 0 0 0 2 1 0
Thelotornis kirtlandii Colubridae 5 1 2 3 0 1 1 1 1 0
Grayia smythii Colubridae 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
Psammophis phillipsii Colubridae 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Mehelya poensis Colubridae 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Gastropyxis smaragdina Colubridae 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
Dendroaspis jamesoni Elapidae 0 2 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0
Naja ( = Boulengerina) annulata Elapidae 0 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Naja nigricollis Elapidae 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Python sebae Boidae 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Python regius Boidae 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kinixys erosa Testudinidae 5 4 2 0 0 2 2 3 0 0
Kinixys homeana Testudinidae 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 3 0 0
Pelusios niger Pelomedusidae 4 0 2 0 0 7 3 3 0 0
Osteolaemus tetraspis Crocodylidae 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0
Crocodylus suchus Crocodylidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0

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TABLE III
Summary of the biodiversity indices calculated for the study areas (for more details, see text)
AMPHIBIANS NAOC
(dry) Ewoama
(dry) Okpoama
(dry) Diema
(dry) St. Nicholas
R (dry) NAOC
(wet) Ewoama
(wet) Okpoama
(wet) Diema
(wet) St. Nicholas
R (wet)
Number of amphibians species 6 4 3 2 1 8 5 5 4 2
Number of amphibians individuals 67 26 12 3 3 589 78 170 14 7
Amphibians’ Margalef (S)1.189 0.921 0.805 0.910 0.000 1.097 0.918 0.779 1.137 0.514
Amphibians’ Shannon - Wiener (H)1.260 1.594 1.744 0.877 0.737 0.410 1.146 1.052 1.079 0.403
Amphibians’ Evenness (E)0.703 1.150 1.588 1.265 - 0.197 0.712 0.654 0.779 0.581
REPTILIA NAOC
(dry) Ewoama
(dry) Okpoama
(dry) Diema
(dry) St. Nicholas
R (dry) NAOC
(wet) Ewoama
(wet) Okpoama
(wet) Diema
(wet) St. Nicholas
R (wet)
Number of reptiles species 12 11 15 6 4 9 12 12 6 2
Number of reptiles individuals 110 81 154 55 20 70 59 94 32 34
Reptiles’ Margalef (S)2.340 2.276 2.779 1.248 1.001 1.883 2.698 2.421 1.443 0.284
Reptiles’ Shannon - Wiener (H)0.440 0.577 0.475 0.116 0.136 0.149 0.424 0.326 0.083 0.000
Reptiles’ Evenness (E)0.177 0.241 0.176 0.065 0.098 0.068 0.171 0.131 0.046 0.000

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Regarding the differences in community composition among sites, we observed that
NAOC holds a unique community, very different from those in the other sites both in dry and
in wet season (Fig. 2). Also Okpoama showed a relatively unique community, which differed
from the others just slightly less than NAOC. This was particularly true for reptiles, which
showed a constant pattern of similarities among sites in dry and wet seasons (Fig. 2). On the
contrary, for amphibians a certain seasonal effect was evidenced. In fact, only NAOC main-
tained its strong differences in the two seasons, while the other sites changed their relative
similarity from dry to wet season (Fig. 2).
Figure 2. — UPGMA dendrogram showing the relative distance among sites, during both the dry and the wet seasons
in terms of community composition for both reptiles and amphibians.
DISCUSSION
Overall, our study revealed that the herpetofaunal communities of the Niger Delta coastal
barrier island forests have some remarkable differences from those observed in other main
vegetation zones of the same geographic region. The rst main aspect is that the community
is composed by a relatively low number of species (just 31 including both reptiles and amphi-
bians). On the other hand, species richness was much higher in other Niger Delta sites with
different habitats : for instance, 47 amphibians and 18-24 snakes were recorded in forests and
forest derived habitats (Akani et al.,1999, 2004). In this regard, it should be mentioned that

– 159 –
these other sites were located on the mainland, and hence a higher species richness should
also be expected there because islands typically have lower diversity than mainland sites (e.g.,
MacArthur & Wilson, 1967). Notably, the coastal barrier forests are not inhabited by typical
ground-dwelling forest inhabitants (for instance, the snakes Bitis gabonica, Bitis nasicornis,
Atractaspis spp., Calabaria reinhardtii, etc), that are locally abundant in swamp forest sites
and are known to persist even in cultivated lands (Akani et al., 1999, 2008). The same is also
true for the chameleons, given that we observed just one species (Chamaeleo gracilis) instead
of the at least 4 species that commonly occur in southern Nigerian forests (Luiselli, 2007).
We suppose that the reduced number of species is due to the presence of the wide mangrove
zone that separates the coastal barrier island forest zone and the inland swamp forest zone.
The mangrove zone, with wide brackish water marshes and strong tidal oscillations in the
water level, may have been an obstacle to the dispersal and colonization of the typical forest-
dwelling species towards the coastal barrier island forests. Indeed, several ground-dwelling
forest species are very sedentary and habitat specialists (e.g., Luiselli, 2006a, 2007). However,
we should be careful before stressing rm conclusions concerning the reduced number of spe-
cies found in the coastal barrier island of Brass. Indeed, there are some possible shortcomings
associated to our sampling that may have affected the results. For instance, the fact that we
captured only six frog species may depend on that we sampled by VES only during the day,
whereas tropical frogs tend to be active particularly at night. However, our pitfall traps would
have captured animals also at night, thus lowering the eventual biases depending on our diurnal
transect sampling. Hence, we have likely underestimated the local species richness, particu-
larly with concerns to arboreal anurans (families Hyperoliidae and Rhacophoridae) and lizards
(Gekkonidae), but possibly also some nocturnal snakes (e.g., Lamprophis species). Although
bucket traps may provide data on nocturnal species as well they are highly selective, usually
only selecting for ground-dwelling or burrowing species (e.g. Arthroleptidae, Bufonidae) and
migrating pipids (e.g. Silurana tropicalis). Plus they are not very efcient in capturing smaller
and/or very mobile taxa (cf. e.g., Rödel & Ernst, 2004). Other species that were expected to
occur into the coastal barrier island forests (for instance the forest cobra, Naja melanoleuca)
were not detected during this study, but we assume that this was due unsatisfactory eld effort
rather than to a true absence. However, it is noteworthy that we found the water cobra, Naja
annulata, in the water bodies of the coastal barrier island forests. This large snake is very rare
in Nigeria, and indeed was not recorded in this country until recent years (e.g., Romer, 1953;
Butler & Reid, 1990).
Another interesting aspect concerns the phenology of the herpetofauna species in the
coastal barrier island forests of Nigeria. Concerning the amphibians, we found a considerably
higher diversity of species and a higher number of individuals during the wet season. This n-
ding mirrors exactly with previous studies done in tropical Africa (e.g., Barbault, 1976, 1977,
1987, 1991; Luiselli, 2006b; Garner et al., 2007; Behangana & Luiselli, 2008; Behangana
et al., 2008). Amphibians were encountered more in rainy season as it was their breeding
season and the humid condition favored them so they could come out in high numbers. On the
contrary, in reptiles, a higher species richness and a higher number of individuals were encoun-
tered during the dry season. This is certainly surprising, as in general also the reptiles follow
the same patterns as the amphibians (e.g., Akani et al., 1999; Luiselli & Akani, 2002). Our data
are still insufcient to explain this unusual phenology pattern in reptiles.
Our study has also some conservation implications, given that, according to the ranking of
Federal endangered species list of Nigeria (Act 11 of 1985 Schedules 1 and 2), Brass is inha-
bited by ve species falling into the Schedule 1 category, which includes only critically endan-
gered species that should not be removed by anybody. These species are the crocodiles Croco-
dylus suchus (listed as Crocodylus niloticus in the Schedule 1 act) and Osteolaemus tetraspis,
the lizard Varanus ornatus, and the snakes Python sebae and Python regius). On the contrary,
none of the species recorded in Brass falls into Schedule 2, which includes those species that
could be taken with permit from appropriate wildlife authorities after signing by the head of
State. The presence of ve species of high conservation concern and the strong environmental
pressure which is caused and will be even more caused in the next future by oil companies do
make Brass a threatened forest habitat in southern Nigeria. It is therefore required in this work

– 160 –
that the oil companies should not impact again on the remnant natural habitats found in Brass,
and that possibly they may mitigate the impacts they are already causing to the environment
by economically sustaining ecological projects aimed at improving the network of corridors
among forest remnants, especially for species having large home ranges and a clear tendency
for dispersal (e.g. Python sebae; see Luiselli et al., 2001).
In conclusion, it should be stressed that the incoming works for the LNG project will
considerably alter the ecological structure of the herpetological communities in Brass. There-
fore, we would invite the pertinent authorities to ofcially gazette a conservation area which
should include the Okpoma forest up to River St. Nicholas, where the majority of the species
detected during this study were recorded.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Niger Delta Wetland Centre (NDWC) for logistic support and hospitality. The Federal Department
of Forestry in Yenagoa released authorizations to capture the specimens used in this study. We are indebted to our eld
assistants – Dimie, Otufu, Dabbo, and several local hunters, especially Simon and Begold, for companionship and for
giving us useful information on the habitat history of the study area as well as helping us to set the drift fences and
pitfall traps. Anonymous reviewers substantially improved an early draft of this manuscript. The study was nancially
supported by Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI International), through 2004, 2005, and 2006 funds to LL.
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