Archives of Current Research International

Understanding of local environmental predictors of an ecosystem's plant diversity, such as physico-chemical parameters of water or soil, is paramount for vegetation analysts to be able to give a concise and precise ecological description of any species. The present study explores the potential effects of water physicochemical parameters in rivers on the occurrence and distribution of aquatic ferns in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria. Aquatic ferns' distribution is usually explained by climate, but the relative importance of local environmental predictors of aquatic ferns' habitat specificity is not fully understood. Moreover, in the freshwater realm, intrinsic differences existing between different categories of water bodies can lead to significant differences in species–environment relationships. Here, the relative importance of local environmental predictors is tested for explaining aquatic fern species distributions in three rivers.  Each of the three rivers has only one fern species. Water samples were taken at two different locations along the course of each river. Comparative analysis of twelve physicochemical parameters of water quality shows significant differences (P<0.05). These results are probably due to the variability in the local physicochemical parameters prevailing in the streams. Although the local environmental predictors are usually regarded as less important compared to the climatic factors, they may be crucial to the occurrence and distribution of aquatic ferns in waterbodies. Based on the present study, Ceraptoteris cornuta, Marsilea minuta, and Bolbitis hedioli tend to be specific in terms of the local environmental condition (P<0.05). Further work on the aquatic ferns' physicochemical specificity potentials will be of immense help to fernery.