TITLE:
Environmental Impact of Bush Burning on the Physico-Chemistry of Mangrove Soil at Eagle Island, Niger Delta, Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Aroloye O. Numbere, Chinedu J. Obanye
KEYWORDS:
Environmental Impact, Fire, Mangrove Forest, Physico-Chemistry, Soil
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.14 No.2,
February
27,
2023
ABSTRACT: Wetland soils derive their chemical composition from
the sedimentary rock underneath. Among the metals produced are trace and
nutrient elements which facilitate plant growth. Bush burning near mangrove
forest is a common practice that has not been given much attention despite its
negative impact on the environment. We thus hypothesize that the application of
fire on wetland soil will negatively impact the soil chemistry. We collected
soil samples from burnt and unburnt soilsat different distances from the point
of burning to compare the concentration of nutrient elements (Calcium (Ca2+),
iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg), Nitrate (NO3-),
Phosphate (PO43-) and Potassium (K). The
result revealed that there was significant difference between metals (P 0.05). Iron had the highest
overall concentration in burnt (10743.75 ± 1508.39 mg/kg) and unburnt
(8854.02 ± 1734.86 mg/kg) soils. In contrast,
there was no significant difference in the concentration of metals in burnt and
unburnt soils (P = 0.07). The order of metal
concentration in the burnt soil is Fe > Mg > PO43- > Ca2+> K > NO3- while the
order of metal concentration in the unburnt soil is . There was also no
correlation between distance and soil metal concentration (r = -0.05; P > 0.05). The result showed
that burning does not negatively impact the wetland soil, rather it causes an
increase in soil metal concentration probably due to the addition of ash from
the burning process, which fertilizes the soil.