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A Morphological and Anatomical Study of Ferns on the Campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana

A thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, College of Science in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Master of Science degree.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Addo-Fordjour, Patrick
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2011
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access_status_str Open Access
author Addo-Fordjour, Patrick
author_browse Addo-Fordjour, Patrick
author_facet Addo-Fordjour, Patrick
author_sort Addo-Fordjour, Patrick
collection Thesis
description A thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, College of Science in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Master of Science degree.
format Thesis
id oai:ir.knust.edu.gh:123456789/1881
institution KNUST (Ghana)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:31:22.621Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from KNUSTSpace — Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (Ghana)
publishDate 2011
publishDateRange 2011
publishDateSort 2011
record_format dspace
source_str KNUSTSpace — Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (Ghana)
spelling oai:ir.knust.edu.gh:123456789/1881 A Morphological and Anatomical Study of Ferns on the Campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana Addo-Fordjour, Patrick A thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, College of Science in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Master of Science degree. Ferns have aesthetic, medicinal, food and agricultural importance. Sometimes they are also used as air filters for the control of air pollution. In spite of their multipurpose use, ferns are a group of plants which are relatively less known. The ecological data of African Pteridophytes, especially ferns, still remains extremely scarce and incomplete. Identification keys for most species of ferns do not exist, thus making identification difficult. The present study was carried out to identify the different species of ferns at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) campus and to determine their habitats, diversity and relative frequency. The study involved both field and laboratory works for a period of 13 months. The species were identified using keys, pictures, figures, herbarium specimens at the KNUST, the University of Ghana, and Kew, Britain, and assistance of foreign experts. The relative frequency of the species was quantified by recording the presence or absence of the plant species in 2m x 2m randomly located quadrats in each habitat. In all eleven different fern species belonging to the following eight genera were identified: Nephrolepis, Pteris, Microsorum, Cyclosorus, Arthropteris, Thelypteris, Adian turn, and Pityrogramma. The results also showed that the family Pteridaceae had the highest number of species while the family Oleandraceae recorded the lowest number of species. Arthropteris orientalis, Thelypteris microbasis, and Nephrolepis undulata were the common species in all the habitats found at the KNUST campus. The study also showed that more of the species preferred shaded habitat. A dichotomous key was developed for easy identification of fern species. KNUST 2011-11-21T20:47:29Z 2023-04-19T06:35:03Z 2011-11-21T20:47:29Z 2023-04-19T06:35:03Z 2004 Thesis https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/1881 en 3707; application/pdf
spellingShingle Addo-Fordjour, Patrick
A Morphological and Anatomical Study of Ferns on the Campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
title A Morphological and Anatomical Study of Ferns on the Campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
title_full A Morphological and Anatomical Study of Ferns on the Campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
title_fullStr A Morphological and Anatomical Study of Ferns on the Campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
title_full_unstemmed A Morphological and Anatomical Study of Ferns on the Campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
title_short A Morphological and Anatomical Study of Ferns on the Campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
title_sort morphological and anatomical study of ferns on the campus of the kwame nkrumah university of science and technology knust kumasi ghana
url https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/1881
work_keys_str_mv AT addofordjourpatrick amorphologicalandanatomicalstudyoffernsonthecampusofthekwamenkrumahuniversityofscienceandtechnologyknustkumasighana
AT addofordjourpatrick morphologicalandanatomicalstudyoffernsonthecampusofthekwamenkrumahuniversityofscienceandtechnologyknustkumasighana