1. Contestant profile . Contestant name: Emmanuel Nii Attram Taye . Contestant occupation: Student . University / Organisation University of Ghana . E-mail: . Phone (incl. country code): . Number of people in your team: 2 2. Project overview IMPACTS OF QUARRY ACTIVITIES ON WATER Title: RESOURCES AND EFFECTTS ON BIODIVERSITY: THE ODONATA ASSESSMENT Contest: Ghana Quarry name: Beposo aggregate quarry Prize category: ■Education and Raising Awareness (select all appropriate) ■Habitat and Species Research ■Biodiversity Management Student Project Beyond Quarry Borders 1 | P a g e IMPACTS OF QUARRY ACTIVITIES ON WATER RESOURCES AND EFFECTTS ON BIODIVERSITY: THE ODONATA ASSESSMENT. COMPLETE RESEARCH REPORT PRESENTED TO THE JURY OF THE QUARRY LIFE AWARD GLOBAL COMPETITION BY EMMANUEL NII ATTRAM TAYE AND RHODA BROWN-WOOD SEPTEMBER, 2016 ABSTRACT Mining activities (including quarrying) over the last decade have had drastic effects on water resources across the country. With the insurgence of “galamsey” activities, most of Ghana’s “prized” water bodies including the “prestigious” Pra River have become degraded. Odonata assemblages along water bodies inform of water quality. Odonata assemblages change as environmental conditions, thus their use as effective monitoring tools for environmental change especially in water. This study aimed at exploring how Odonata assemblages can be employed as a cost effective and efficient tool for monitoring the level of degradation of water bodies around quarry sites in rural Ghana for early detection and remediation. with extended uses for water bodies at other locations of commercial or industrial activity. The water bodies in and around the Beposo aggregate quarry owned by West African Quarries Limited (WAQL) were monitored using a combination of Dragonfly counts; observation of female ovipositing behavior, larvae survey in benthos and presence of exuviae and physico- chemical analysis. This study presents results of Odonata survey at the Beposo aggregate quarry and how it relates to quality of water in the area. The study yielded 179 Odonates form 18 species recorded during bi-monthly surveys, 15 species (79.9%) belonging to the suborder Anisoptera (Dragonflies) and 3 (20.1%) belonging to the suborder Zygoptera (Damselflies). Species abundance was higher (51.9%) around water bodies in the quarry than outside the quarry. The two most abundant species recorded were Pantala flavescens (33, 18.4%) and Palpopleura lucia (32, 17.9%), both of which are occur over wide ranges of habitats. Samples from the various water bodies under study revealed minimal influence from the quarry in terms of nutrient load and toxic influx. Implications of encountered species on quality of water and their relatedness with physico-chemical properties of the water bodies are further discussed. Keywords: Quarry; Odonata; Biological indicators; water quality; environmental conditions; 2 | P a g e INTRODUCTION Dragonflies and Damselflies are insects belonging to the order Odonata. They have a three stage semi-aquatic lifecycle (as shown in Fig 1) which begins with the female laying eggs in a water body. Egg development stage (very short time for some species (Corbet, 1999)) is followed by a strictly aquatic larval development stage where the predatory larva/nymph feeds on aquatic organisms including aquatic insects and small fishes to develop through several instars and moults to emerge as an adult. The adults are terrestrial and can be totally independent of water; in some cases can be seen miles away from a water source or their breeding grounds. Reproduction with copulation and ovipostion take most of the time in the life of an adult dragonfly (Corbet, 1999).There is no pupal stage between the larval and adult stages (Corbet, 1999) as is the case for many insects and the change directly from the larval stage to adult is termed incomplete metamorphosis. A biological indicator, herein referred to as bio-indicator is “a species or group of species that readily reflects: the abiotic or biotic state of an environment; represents the impact of environmental change on a habitat, community or ecosystem; or is indicative of the diversity of a subset of taxa, or of wholesale diversity, within an area” (McGeoch, 1998). Whole groups of species as well as individuals can be used as bioindicators. Dragonflies and Damselflies have been studied extensively (Kalkman et al., 2008; Korkeamaki and Suhonen, 2002; Karthika et al., 2012; Acquah-Lamptey et al., 2013) across the globe. Their use as tools for monitoring changes in the environment have been studied both in Ghana (Dijkstra and Lempert, 2003; Acquah-Lamptey et al., 2013) and around the world (Clark and Samways, 1996; Stewart and Samways, 1998; Sahlén & Ekestubbe, 2001 and Kalkam et al., 2008). Corbet (2004) reveals that there is a close dependence of Odonates to the ecological state of the environment. The presence of dragonflies is an indication of a healthy ecosystem (Corbet 1999) whiles the presence or absence of particular species reflects both human activities surrounding the water as well as the structural components of the water (Sahlén & Ekestubbe, 2001). Some species are hardy generalists and can tolerate wide ranges or conditions while others are very sensitive to their environment (Chovanec and Waringer, 2001; Chovanec et al., 2004; Amelia et al., 2006; Smith et al., 2006). Some studies (Stewart and Samways, 1998) have focused on sampling adult male Dragonflies excluding females because their coloration is “critically” different and thus difficult to identify. Also because they almost only visited the water to mate and oviposit, they are not suitable for use as monitors of water quality. Raebel et al. (2010), emphasize the need to sample exuviae during monitoring of water quality as the presence of the cases is indicative of successful breeding with the final stage the emergence of tenerals. They outline the insufficiency and inaccuracy of using just adult as indicators on the grounds of migration and from their breeding grounds. They also discovered that presence of ovipositing females do not give indication of water quality as some females would lay a few eggs in any temporary pool they encounter in order to increase survival chances. The economic importance of quarries to the countries and communities in which they operate cannot be downplayed (Tauli-Corpuz, 1997; UNEP, 1997) especially in developing countries like Ghana. Job creation, rural development, provision of raw material for local construction industry, and overall contribution to GDP are some benefits of quarries operating in an area. However, aside the positive economic contributions, what are the impacts of quarries on cultural systems, modes of livelihoods and overall life views of the communities; what are the impacts on the environment especially on water systems? Quarries have had bad press and negative notoriety for decades due to their negative impacts on the environment; not just the environment but also on farming practices and the health of members in host communities. This study looked at combining adult dragonflies and damselflies, their nymphs in water and their exuviae to determine the state of water bodies in and around the Beposo aggregate quarry. JUSTIFICATION The Insect Order: Odonata is specifically selected for this study because: There is existing knowledge of the ecological requirements of a large number of Odonate species. A high correlation between the presence of habitat components and the presence of certain species. A relatively long ontogenetic development makes medium to long-term monitoring possible. They react rapidly to a change in habitat quality by appearance/disappearance or by a change in abundance. They serve as umbrella species representing both aquatic and terrestrial assemblages. 3 | P a g e The prey-predator relationship existing between mosquitoes and Odonates are significant to the public health of rural communities within quarry sites. OBJECTIVES The main objectives of the study were: i. To innovatively use adult male Dragonfly and Damselfly assemblages as surrogates of water quality where their presence or absence is an indication of health of water systems. ii. To use the presence of nymphs and exuviae as a measure of ecological health and habitat suitability for breeding Odonates. iii. To validate the use of Odonata assemblages as suitable tools for measuring water quality using physico- chemical properties and chemical analysis. METHODS Study area The study was undertaken at the Beposo Quarry (see Fig. 2) (N 50° 08’ 12”, W 10° 36’ 42”) owned and run by West Africa Quarries Limited (WAQL) is located at Atta-ne-Atta within the Beposo-Shama District of the Western Region of Ghana and sits on 16.49 acres of land. It can be found along the Beposo–Adiembra road, about 2.3km off the Cape Coast-Takoradi highway. Average annual temperature is between 23-32°C and annual rainfall ranges between 1200-1800 mm. There are 165 vascular plants species (out of which seven are listed on the IUCN Red List as globally threatened), this consist largely of Wild oil palm (Elaies guineensis), Kapok tree Ceiba pentandra and Alchonea Cordifolia. There are about 102 bird and 8 species of large and medium-sized mammals all of which are of Least Concern (LC) according to the IUCN red list. SAMPLING PROTOCOL Identification of sampling stations After a reconnaissance survey (see Fig. 3) of the quarry during which the team was taken through best practices and behaviors to ensure safety on site, suitable sampling points were selected based on the water regime of the site. Three (3) sampling sites were selected; Site A (Fig. 4) is a man-made pool in the active mining area, Site B (Fig. 5) is a temporary shallow pond in grass land that gathers after rains located right outside the quarry gates and point C (Fig. 6) is a natural pond 800m away from the quarry in the Atta ne Atta township. Surveying Adult Odonates Sampling was done for 30 minutes at each site and involved counts along the edges on the various water bodies between late morning and early evening when Dragonflies and damselflies are known to be most active.