Areas Of Active Research

Plant Physiology and Biotechnology
            Active research is going on in the area of tissue culture of our crop species and our indigenous germplasm sources.  The objective is to provide baseline information on the propagation and improvement of our indigenous species.

Ecology 
            Work is going on on the  dynamics of succession in the tropical rain forest; there is also intense studies of tropical forests--their structure and floristic composition with the aim of conserving forest vegetation to combat erosion encroachment.
            Work is also going on on primary production, nutrient cycling and human impact on the vegetation in the savanna ecosystem.

Systematics and Anatomy
            Baseline work is going on on the anatomical (foliar, wood anatomy) survey of   Nigerian plant species.   Conventional taxonomic techniques including palynology and electrophoretic studies are also used in fine-tuning the taxonomy of major groups of our flora.

Genetics&Cytogenetics
            Active work is going on on the genetic, cytogenetic and cytotaxonomic studies of our grasses, legumes, compositae and other groups. This work involves cultivated crops and their wild relatives--sorghum, rice, cowpea--and the focus is on their population dynamics, hybridization studies, reproductive biology and genetics of characters of agrobotanical value.

Lower Plant (Algology, Bryology)
            Work is going on on bryophyte ecology, bryophyte taxonomy, bio-indicators of environmental pollution and antimicrobial activities of lower plants.