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¹ University of Benin, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Benin City, P.M.B 1154, Nigeria DOI : 10.4194/1303-2712-v18_4_10 Viewed : 4027 - Downloaded : 4576 Investigation of the physical and chemical characteristics of selected lotic and lentic ecological systems in Agbede wetlands were under taken between December, 2012 and May, 2014 to assess the quality status of the water bodies. Water samples were collected monthly from seven stations which comprised one stream with three sampling points and three ponds with four sampling points. Thirty two (32) physical and chemical characteristics were determined using standard methods. Application of principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that total dissolved solids; total suspended solids and cadmium were the sources of variations among the parameters in the sampled stations owing to the strong component factors. All the physical and chemical characteristics in the surface waters had their mean values within the set limits by Federal Ministry of Environment of Nigeria (FMEnv.) except for turbidity whose value was > 5 NTU, copper (> 1 mgL^-1) and zinc (> 1 mgL^-1). It can be inferred that the selected surface water bodies were in a semi-pristine condition. Keywords : Hydrology, limnochemistry, water quality, wetlands, Nigeria