AMPHIBIANS

Amphibians play vital roles in our ecosystem as both predator and prey, contributing to insect population control and serving as a bio-indicator of the environmental health. This study was done to examine the food and feeding habits of anurans (Sclerophyrs maculata, Hoplobatrachus occipitalis, and Ptychadena pumilio) around the Faculty of Life Science towards the Department of Anatomy at the University of Benin, Edo state, Nigeria. A total of 62 specimen were captured and analyzed using the stomach-flushing method to obtain the stomach content and the prey items were identified. The result revealed that the anurans mainly consumed insects in the Order Hymenoptera, which was the most abundant and frequently occurring prey item (73.43%). Sclerophyrs maculata had the highest dietary diversity, while H. occipitalis showed a preference for Araneae (spiders) and Ptychadena pumilio showed the lowest prey diversity probably due to the number of specimens captured. This study provides insight into the adaptability of these species to their environment, demonstrating their opportunistic feeding habits and the factors influencing their diet. The high consumption of hymenoptera suggests that crawling insects are a readily available and preferred type of food. The presence of empty stomach might indicate low availability of food or fast digestion rate.

Heavy metal contamination in aquatic ecosystems is a growing concern due to its persistence, bioaccumulation potential, and toxicity to both wildlife and humans. Amphibians, due to their permeable skin and dual aquatic-terrestrial life cycle, serve as critical bioindicators of environmental pollution. However, traditional bioaccumulation studies often involve lethal sampling, which can negatively impact amphibian populations already facing global decline. This study employed a non-lethal sampling technique using toe clips from amphibians to assess heavy metal contamination in water, sediment, and amphibian tissues from Ikpe River, Edo State, Nigeria, the amphibian toe clips were collected between the months of January to September 2022.
The concentrations of iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and nickel (Ni) in surface water, sediment, and amphibian toe clips with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of amphibian toe clips in the assessment of heavy metals accumulating in amphibians from three stations along Ikpe River, influenced by anthropogenic activities. Analysis of heavy metals in the samples were carried out using Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS)

The increasing degree of heavy metals contamination requires proper and effective health management on the ecological well-being by probing water, soil and fauna species within the environment .This study was carried out to investigate the distribution of heavy metal concentrations, specifically Lead (Pb) and Copper (Cu) in soil, water and in selected amphibian species across selected sites in Benin City, Edo State. Amphibians species (Sclerophrys regularis, Sclerophrys maculata, Afixalus dorsalis, Ptychadena longirostris, Ptychadena oxyrhynchus, Hypercolius fusciventris, Ptychadena mascareniensis, Ptychadena pumilio, Hoplobatrachus occipitalis, Ptychadena bibroni) were collected from four sampling sites (Iguosa river, Oluku dumpsite, Life science vicinity and Ikpoba river) between June and July 2023 . Heavy metal concentrations were analyzed using the Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (A.A.S) The concentration of Pb in Iguosa and Ikpoba rivers were below the permissible limit of World Health Organization (WHO). At Iguosa river, Pb was 0.011mg/kg and Cu 1.445mg/kg, while at Ikpoba river Pb 0.006mg/kg and Cu 0.284mg/kg, both below the WHO permissible limit. The concentrations of Pb and Cu in soils from the sites were all below the European Union. The accumulation pattern was Ikpoba River> Iguosa River > Oluku Dumpsite > Life Science Vicinity (University of Benin) for Pb and Cu in amphibian toe snip samples. Hence, these heavy metal concentrations have no immediate threat on the health of water, soil quality and public health.