Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ECOLOGICAL STUDIES ALONG HIGHWAY CORRIDORS: A CASE STUDY OF THE VEGETATION PATTERN AND RELATED CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION POTENTIAL ALONG THE ACCRA TEMA MOTORWAY, GHANA

Mona Dave, Vincent Von Vordzogbe and Lord Edem Klukpui

Abstract

Highways act as concave corridors that thrive unique group of plants which maintain ecological balance. The growing interest in the evaluation of the potential of highway vegetation to climate change mitigation and adaptation as part of IPCC strategies accounts for this research study. The study was conducted along the 19 km stretch of dual carriage, Accra-Tema Motorway in Ghana. Using non-destructive sampling approach in 40-hectare area, biophysical parameters of trees species on either side of this highway was carried out and appropriate allometries used to convert these measures to total biomass and potential carbon dioxide values. 43 different tree species belonging to 18 families from a total of 5976 individual trees were measured. The Fabaceae constitutes the dominant plant family. In terms of spatial tree distribution, 3.0 – 9.0m and 0.30 – 0.90m average tree height and girth ranges respectively were prominent. On the average, 54.94 t/ha of biomass (27.47 tC/ha) from ~149 trees/ha is estimated with Albizia lebbeck, Samanea saman and Khaya senegalensis recording the highest values. In view of that, attention must be paid to the conservation of these and other dispersed trees species due to their ability to sequester and store appreciable amount of carbon.