Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology

This study was carried out to examine the effect of plant species on soil properties in the Falgore Game Reserve (FGR) in Kano State, Nigeria; with the aim to promote sustainable conservation and management of the game reserve and to encourage the use of multiple tree species on farmlands. Strata, systematic and random sampling techniques were employed in order to capture the variability of land cover. Composite samples of soil were randomly collected at a depth of 0-30cm from sample plots of 50 m × 50 m sizes at five points using soil auger. This experiment was replicated four times. The samples were thoroughly mixed and spread out on a dry floor to air dried under the roofed shade. The samples were packaged in polythene bags and taken to the biological science laboratory (Bayero University Kano, Nigeria) for preparation and analysis. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Correlation at p< 0.05. Based on this finding, shrubs and tree species diversity were found to be inversely related to soil total Nitrogen, N, % O.C and soil p^H (H₂O). The nitrogen content of the soil sample was more stable compared with the carbon content across the strata in the study area. The results of this finding revealed that plants species diversity have different effects on soil properties of FGR. Thus, it is recommended that conservation and restoration of threatened plant species should be encouraged for soil amendment. For easy adoption of plant species on farmlands, farmers should be enlightened more on the effects and environmental functions of trees on farm land.

Landfills are mostly used to manage solid waste in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Due to inappropriate administration, there have been numerous issues over the years relating to odor and leachate. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of odor stemming from Da Phuoc landfill site on surrounding areas. A questionnaire survey was administered through face-to-face interviews with 409 residents living in the affected areas. The findings of this study indicate that the odor perception of residents significantly influences their attitudes towards waste disposal sites. The results show that odor affects not only the region around municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment facilities but regions more than 7 km away as well. The data indicates that the odor emanating from the MSW disposal site negatively affects the daily life of many residents. This study is an effort to finding a solution to reduce the impact of odor generated from the landfill site on nearby residential areas.

The genus Conus forms a conspicuous and rather homogeneous group within marine Gastropods. This makes it all the more interesting to focus on the sub-communities formed by Conus species and to analyze the potential specificities in the internal organization of species in these communities, in particular species richness, species abundance distribution and the effect of geographical distance between communities on differences in their respective species composition. Accordingly, two Conus communities along the coast in Mannar Gulf (India), separated by 80 km, are considered. Reliable analysis requires, first, to treat exhaustive data from complete samplings or, else – as here – to implement an appropriate extrapolation procedure to complete numerically the partial samplings. After numerical completion, substantial differences were highlighted between the two communities, not only in terms of true (total) species richness but, even more, as regards the profile and the average unevenness of the distributions of species abundance. Also, significant dissimilarity in species composition was found between the two communities, that may be tentatively attributed to either deterministic distance decay in similarity of species composition or, alternatively, to the persistence in the stochastic process of species recruitment from the regional stock of Conus planktonic larvae. This preliminary study yet requests to be complemented by other similar case studies, before drawing any safer interpretative conclusions.

This study was conducted to explore the present trend and pattern of industrial growth with spatial distribution of industries and seasonal extent of physicochemical characteristics of wastewater at Sreepur of Gazipur, Bangladesh. The wastewater samples were collected from 5 locations in three seasons viz. pre-monsoon, monsoon and dry season. A total of 120 medium to large industries were surveyed, among those 52 were in red category, 53 were in orange-B category, 13 were in orange-A and only 2 were in green category. In 1995, there were only three industries, which gradually increased to a total of 29 in 2005. Among them, 11 were in red category and 18 were in orange-B category. But from 2006-2010, a total 59 industries were developed and most of them were in red and orange-B categories. Similarly, during the period of 2011 to March 2013, a total 16 industries were developed, among them 8 industries were in red and 3 were in orange-B category. Major types of wastewater discharging industries were textile, dyeing, washing and printing. Among the surveyed industries about 33% didn’t have any effluent treatment plant (ETP). The mean value of pH, EC, DO, BOD, COD and TDS of wastewater were 7.28, 2.64, 1.62 mg L^-1, 82.0 mg L^-1, 217.31 mg L^-1 and 1380 mg L^-1, respectively during pre-monsoon; 6.7, 1.15, trace, 8.0 mg L^-1, 152.4 mg L^-1 and 539.58 mg L^-1, respectively during monsoon and 7.7, 1.82, 0.74 mg L^-1, 48.8 mg L^-1, 204.8 mg L^-1 and 993.6 mg L^-1, respectively during dry season. Average DO concentrations in all seasons and sites were significantly low, while BOD and COD contents were higher in pre-monsoon and dry seasons than the DoE permissible limit. The study concluded that the area is now a hub of polluting industries which are mostly liable to pollute the surrounding environment.

The Magombera forest is a home of endemic and endangered biological species such as Udzungwa red colobus monkey (Procolobus gordonorum) and the Magombera chameleon (Kinyongia magomberae). However, the forest is facing high threat of disappearing through  resources extraction pressure from adjacent local communities. The project aimed at improving conservation of Magombera forest by involving the adjacent communities through provision of conservation education, restoration initiatives and bee keeping as alternative livelihoods. The study revealed that the concept of forest conservation is well supported. Nevertheless, people are extracting resources from the forest for their subsistence. The dependence of the people on the forest is due to lack of alternatives to the forest resources, inability of the people to produce alternatives source of income and little conservation education. The project resulted in a community having a positive attitude change towards conservation. The improved bee keeping was introduced to the community and successfully adopted. About 89% of indigenous trees planted for restoring the degraded area of the forest survived, only 11% of trees planted could not survive.  There is a need to expand the scale of the project by involving many participants particularly youths that showed strong interest in the project.