Post-project analysis: The use of a network diagram for environmental evaluation of the Barekese Dam, Kumasi, Ghana

The paper presents an evaluation of post-project impacts of the Barekese Dam on three riparian communities downstream about 30 years after its construction. A network diagram, which incorporated a mathematical model, was used for impact identification and analysis. The expected environmental impacts, expressed as quantitative weighted impact scores, showed that the dam appeared to have exerted adverse impacts on the environmental quality of the communities. The impacts in the communities, however, increased with relative distances away from the dam and the river suggestive of cumulative impacts transmitted downstream. Strategic measures for improving environmental quality of the communities have been given.     

Monitoring of a Coastal Mediterranean Area: Culturable Bacteria, Phytoplankton, Environmental Factors and their Relationships in the Southern Adriatic Sea

Culturable heterotrophic bacterial and phytoplanktonic densities were investigated at four sites in the Southern Adriatic Sea (Brindisi, S. Cataldo, Otranto and S. M. di Leuca) over an annual cycle. The main phytoplankton groups, the bacterial biodiversity, as well as the faecal contamination indicators were determined. Culturable bacterial numbers averaged 4.8 ± 0.2 log CFU ml⁻¹ whereas phytoplankton numbers averaged 2.1 ± 0.4 log cells ml⁻¹. Relationships between culturable bacteria, phytoplankton and the environmental factors were established. Bacterial and phytoplankton densities usually depended significantly on temperature, dissolved oxygen, phosphate and nitrite only in the S. Cataldo transect. In all the examined transects phytoplankton showed a bloom during the January–February period followed by a bacterial peak during the February–March period. Thus we can suppose that the phytoplankton winter bloom is responsible for the availabily of organic matter for bacterial populations in the following months in this oligotrophic ecosystem.