Carbon storage and biodiversity conservation in a changing landscape: the case of Barekese and Owabi watersheds in Ghana

This study was carried out to explore the effect of land-use intensification by examining variation in species composition, carbon stocks and soil fertility for the Barekese and Owabi watersheds. A nested plot design of five plots of size 50 m x 50 m, 10 m x10 m, 5 m x 5 m and 1 m x 1 m were used to collect data per land-use type. Species richness (F=24.991, df = 4, p = 0.000 and F = 34.184,df = 4 p = 0.000), diversity (df = 4, F = 18.529, P = 0.000 and df = 4, F = 13.964, P =0.000) and basal area (df = 4, F = 7.018, P = 0.001 and df = 4, F = 9.051, P = 0.000) were significantly higher in undisturbed forest compared to other land-use systems for Barekese and Owabi watershed respectively. Carbon stocks followed a similar pattern indicating significant effect of landuse for Barekese (df = 4, F = 24.991, P = 0.000) and Owabi (F = 34.184, df = 4, P = 0.000) with Closed Forest being better. However, open forest (moderately disturbed forest) was not significantly different from Closed Forest (undisturbed forest) in terms of carbon stock, species richness and diversity. The outcome study suggests that natural forest cover favour higher carbon storage and biodiversity conservation. It also illustrates the fact that moderately disturbed primary forests/agroforest systems have high conservation value and may play a significant role in conservation strategies and global carbon cycling.