Environmental pollution and arthropod community change: Impact of quarry
activities on invertebrate biodiversity in Ghana.
Abstract
Quarry operations can have a negative impact on invertebrate
biodiversity and threaten local species through a variety of factors,
such as habitat loss and pollution. Quarrying is a common practice in
Ghana, but little is known about its effects on local insect diversity
and abundance. In this study, the relationship between quarry operations
and insect communities on an active quarry site, the Mowire quarry site
in the Ashanti region of Ghana was assessed. Transect counts, aerial
nets, pitfall traps, Flight interception traps (FIT) and fruit baiting
(Charaxes) traps were employed to assess arthropod assemblage,
specifically insects as a surrogate for arthropod communities. A total
of 2,902 individual insects belonging to 56 families and eleven orders
were recorded in all transect points across the three sampling zones.
Quarry operations had little impact on the relative abundance (N = 974)
of insects at Transect point (TP) 400m in the Eastern Zone (EZ), species
richness (S = 49) and the highest abundance (N = 302) corresponding with
high diversity of flowering plants at this site that are a food source
for pollinators and herbivorous insects. Quarry operations negatively
affected the relative abundance (N= 541) and richness (S = 37) of
insects in the Western zone (WZ), significantly affecting TP 400m in the
WZ, corresponding to the low abundance of food plant as well as volumes
of dust that settle at the WZ after every blast, as dust travels in the
direction of this zone. It is recommended that interventions to prevent
biodiversity habitat loss in and around the quarry operational site
should focus on policies that ensure and enforce the establishment of a
dust control mechanism system in the extractive industry.