Anthropogenic activities

Monitoring forest dynamics is essential for understanding ecosystem health and supporting sustainable conservation efforts in tropical environments. This study assessed forest cover changes in the Okomu Forest Reserve, Edo State, Nigeria, between 2015 and 2024 using geospatial techniques, including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) analysis and supervised land-use/land-cover (LULC) classification. Landsat satellite imagery for 2015, 2020, and 2024 was processed to generate NDVI maps and classify LULC patterns using a maximum likelihood algorithm. Temporal NDVI statistics revealed a moderate increase in vegetation greenness from 0.346 in 2015 to 0.360 in 2020, followed by a slight decline to 0.359 in 2024, indicating fluctuating vegetation health over the study period. Anomaly results further highlighted localized decline in vegetation vigour, suggesting increasing disturbance pressure. LULC analysis showed a decline in dense vegetation from 409.28 km² (37%) in 2015 to 375.82 km² (34%) in 2024, alongside an increase in moderate vegetation from 360.36 km² (33%) to 411.04 km² (37%), reflecting secondary regrowth in disturbed areas. Settlement areas expanded from 59.34 km² to 72.02 km², underscoring growing anthropogenic influence. Bare ground and light vegetation also exhibited reductions, suggesting conversion to built-up areas or natural regeneration. Overall, findings indicate progressive forest degradation coupled with evidence of vegetation recovery in specific zones. The observed changes are primarily attributed to human activities such as agricultural expansion, settlement growth, and logging. The study emphasizes the need for strengthened protection measures, community-based conservation strategies, and continuous remote
sensing monitoring to safeguard the ecological integrity of the Okomu Forest Reserve.

Soil, surface water and groundwater samples were collected for physico-chemical, microbial and heavy metal analysis from different locations in Ologbo and environs. Thirteen (13) soil samples including Three controls (Pristine environment) were randomly collected at subsurface depth of 0-30cm, Thirteen surface water samples were collected including three controls and Ten (10) Groundwater samples were collected using random sampling Technique. The samples were collected in order to evaluate the level of pollution/Contamination of the media as a result of petroleum activities, wood industries and other anthropogenic activities within the study area. The results for the groundwater analysis showed pH (5.61-5-78), EC (54.64-65.74), Turbidity (0.05-0.12NTU), Cu (0.38-0.49mg/l), Zn (0.3-0.39mg/l), Cr (0.09-0.16mg/l), Ni (0.64-0.85mg/l), Fe (0.38 2.49mg/l), Mn (0.1-0.15mg/l and Pb (0.01-0.16mg/l). The results for the surface water showed pH (5.71-6.05), turbidity (7.31-13.92NTU), EC (87.11-95.2uS/cm), Zn (0.41-0.45mg/l), Fe (1.24-1.3mg/l), Cu (0.51-0.54mg/l), Cr (0.35-0.38mg/l), Ni (0.09-0.21mg/l) and Pb (0.02- 0.06). These results were compared with world and national standards, and control samples were
collected and used for comparison where needed .The result, of the analyses were further subjected to statistical treatment such as Spearman’s correlation Co-efficient, ANOVA and concentration Factor Analysis, to ultimately ascertain the spatial relationship between sample. The ANOVA results for soil samples indicated a very strong significant difference at (p<0.01)
between control and soil samples for all parameters. Correlation results revealed positive and negative correlation Co-efficient at r (0.01) and r (0.05) indicating strong relationship between them, which probably reflects their source of Contamination. Concentration maps generated for the area showed high concentrations of Lead, Copper and Iron around the central area, increasing towards the southwestern part of the maps. The groundwater flow map showed a 2-way flow direction towards the central part where the major river dividing the map is located. The overall results revealed moderate contamination/pollution of all varieties of samples analyzed and it’s here by recommended that important steps be taken to minimize the negative effects of oil exploration and wood industries in Ologbo.