TY - GEN A1 - Bentsi-Enchill, Felicity A1 - Damptey, Frederick Gyasi A1 - Nii Moi Pappoe, Alexander A1 - Ekumah, Bernard A1 - Komla Akotoye, Hugh Komla Akotoye T1 - Impact of anthropogenic disturbance on tree species diversity, vegetation structure and carbon storage potential in an upland evergreen forest of Ghana, West Africa T2 - Trees, Forests and People N2 - The impact of anthropogenic disturbance on tree species diversity, vegetation structure and carbon storage potential was assessed in an upland evergreen forest on a disturbance gradient (highly stressed, moderately stressed and non-stressed vegetation) in the Atewa Range Forest Reserve. Five spatially separated plots with sizes 50 × 50 m were demarcated in each gradient and sampled for vegetation and soil attributes. Specifically, we sampled tree species diversity, vegetation structure and carbon storage potentials in each gradient. A total of 193 tree species belonging to 44 families and 131 genera were recorded. Tree species composition and diversity differed across the gradient. Significantly higher species diversity was recorded in the non-stressed vegetation gradient than in the stressed vegetation gradients. Similarly, the gradients differed in terms of basal area, the density of stands, the height of trees and carbon stock with significantly higher attributes in the non-stressed than the stressed vegetation gradients. Only the basal area and height of stands correlated significantly with tree carbon stock. Anthropogenic disturbances (illegal logging, farming, mining) contributed to the reduced tree species diversity, density of stands and removal of mature trees, which translated into a reduction in the forest's ability to store carbon KW - Anthropogenic disturbance KW - Carbon storage potentials KW - Species diversity KW - Upland evergreen forest KW - Vegetation structure Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2022.100238 SN - 2666-7193 IS - 8 SP - 1 EP - 9 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Damptey, Frederick Gyasi A1 - Opuni-Frimpong, Nana Yeboaa A1 - Arimiyaw, Abdul Wahid A1 - Bentsi-Enchill, Felicity A1 - Wiafe, Edward Debrah A1 - Abeyie, Betty Boante A1 - Mensah, Martin Kofi A1 - Debrah, Daniel Kwame A1 - Yeboah, Augustine Oti A1 - Opuni-Frimpong, Emmanuel T1 - Citizen Science Approach for Assessing the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Potential of Urban Green Spaces in Ghana T2 - Land N2 - Urban green spaces are linked to good human health and well-being, sustainable cities and communities, climate action, life on land and under water, as well as offering a platform for quality nature-based education. Their efficient management will no doubt be necessary if strides are to be made in efforts to protect biodiversity and enhance ecosystem service delivery in urban areas. This will, in part, require building the capacity of community members as citizen scientists to take up conservation roles. This study explored the levels of biodiversity and the proxy-based ecosystem service potential of urban green spaces in Sunyani, Ghana, using citizen science approaches. The green spaces accessed were the University of Energy and Natural Resources Wildlife Sanctuary and Arboretum, the Sunyani Parks and Gardens, the Sunyani Residency Park, and the Sunyani Senior High School Woodlot. The different levels of biodiversity (trees, arthropods) and ecosystem services were observed for the five green spaces assessed, with a significant relationship observed between arthropod communities and vegetation variables. Our results showed that citizen scientists perceived urban green spaces to supply more significant provisioning and regulating services than any other ecosystem services, even though they were highly dissatisfied with how green spaces are managed. The children’s perception of the composition of nature was slightly narrow, as they largely centered on plants and animals only. Even so, their awareness of the value of nature was high, as were the threats of human activities to nature. Citizen science approaches could complement biodiversity studies in data-deficient regions; however, collected data may require additional verification and validation from experts for conclusive and better inferences. KW - environmental education KW - nature conservation KW - sustainable development goals KW - urbanization Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/land11101774 SN - 2073-445X VL - 11 IS - 10 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Damptey, Frederick Gyasi A1 - Opuni-Frimpong, Emmanuel A1 - Ayine Nsor, Collins A1 - Addai, James A1 - Kwame Debrah, Daniel A1 - Schnerch, Benjamin A1 - Bentsi-Enchill, Felicity A1 - Korjus, Henn T1 - Taxonomic and community composition of epigeal arthropods in monoculture and mixed tree species plantations in a deciduous forest of Ghana T2 - Journal of Forestry Research N2 - Tropical forests provide several ecosystem services and functions and support approximately two-thirds of the world’s biodiversity but are seriously threatened by deforestation. Approaches to counteract this menace have revolved around aforestation with several or a single tree species. We thus investigated how plantation forests with either a single or several tree species infuenced arthropod taxonomic and community composition using pitfall traps to sample selected groups of epigeal arthropods (Araneae, Coleoptera, Orthoptera and Hymenoptera) and with environmental variables assessed simultaneously. Our results revealed 54 taxonomic groups with signifcantly higher taxonomic richness, activity density, and diversity in the mixed stands than in the monoculture stands. The significant differences in community composition were mainly driven by families including Lycosidae, Formicidae, Staphylinidae, Scotylidae, Hydrophilidae, Gryllidae and Scarabaeidae and were explained by distinct habitat characteristics (canopy openness, litter depth, deadwood volume, and tree height). While the diverse tree communities and heterogeneous vegetation structure ofered food and habitat resources for diverse arthropod groups, the allelopathic nature coupled with homogenous stand characteristics of the Tectona grandis stands in the monoculture suppressed the growth of understorey vegetation that could otherwise serve as food and habitat resources for arthropods, which might have led to limited activities and diversity of arthropods in the monoculture plantation stands. The fndings thus highlight the need to promote mixed tree plantations in degraded tropical areas, especially when restoring biodiversity is the prime management focus. KW - Arthropod community KW - Forest plantations KW - Structural complexity KW - Tree diversity KW - Tropical deforestation Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-022-01508-y VL - 34 IS - 3 SP - 641 EP - 653 ER -