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      Savanna Biomes In Nigeria: Indicatzor Species And Plant Adaptation Strategies

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            Abstract

            The savanna isconsidered an exclusively tropical biome, largely found in Africa. It comprises of grasslands with scattered trees that are sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The savanna biome covers more than 86% of Nigeria's vegetation cover. There are three major savanna belts in Nigeria, namely: the Guinea savanna, the Sudan savanna, and the Sahel savanna. The Guinea savanna is the most extensive ecological zone, covering more than half of the country’s land area. It has typically short trees and tall grasses and is the most luxuriant of the Savannah vegetation belts in Nigeria. The Sudan savanna belt is found in the northern parts of Nigeria. The Sudan savanna is characterised by high rainfall variability, frequent droughts, and poor soil fertility. The Sahel savanna is found in the extreme northwest and northeast of the country. It has sparse vegetation that is dependent on uncertain rainfall, dominantly grasses with discontinuous shrubs and scattered trees, which are often thorny, and extensive sparse grasses. Savannah plants are faced with some delimiting factors, such as seasonal drought, low water and nutrient availability, the impacts of regular fire, and herbivory, among others, which threaten their survival. This article discusses the Savanna biome in Nigeria, its indicator species, and the adaptative features exhibited by plants in the savanna to ensure their survival.

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            Author and article information

            Journal
            ScienceOpen Preprints
            ScienceOpen
            20 November 2022
            Affiliations
            [1 ] Institute of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia
            [2 ] Department of Plant Biology, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
            Author notes
            Author information
            https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6836-8624
            Article
            10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-.PPDXHKL.v1
            9dde4dd1-b575-437f-8c79-cffdcb06f45d

            This work has been published open access under Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0 , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Conditions, terms of use and publishing policy can be found at www.scienceopen.com .

            History
            : 20 November 2022
            Categories

            The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
            Earth & Environmental sciences,Agriculture,Life sciences
            Plants ,Savanna biomes,Nigerian savanna,Grasslands,Guinea savanna,Sudan savanna,Sahel savanna,Plants structural adaptation,Nigeria vegetation,Indicator species

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