The damming of the Volta River has resulted in reduced flooding and an increase in mangrove cutting, accompanied by the virtual collapse of agriculture and fishing in the estuary. Another ecological consequence of the reduced level of flooding has been reduced dispersal of seedlings of the principal mangrove, Rhizophora racemosa. Therefore, after cutting of this species, recolonization is either by conspecifics growing at very high densities or by one of a number of weed species, particularly Typha domingensis, Acrostichum aureum, Paspalum vaginatum, Cyperus articulatus, Sesuvium portulacastrum and Philoxerus vermicularis. Environmental data collected in the vicinity of the mangroves and each of the weed species have enabled suggestions to be made as to whether R. racemosa or Avicennia africana would be the more suitable mangrove to replant. Recommendations have also been made to introduce the palm Nypa fruticans to the area, together with the development of nature-based tourism, both of which would provide alternative means of income generation, thereby reducing the need to cut remaining mangroves.

The studies of grass communities, which spread in deforested areas, also involved observations of soil thermal regimes. Three sites were chosen in order to determine differences in diurnal and seasonal variations of soil temperatures: (1) open site (barren) without plant cover, (2) site covered by a young, lower and thinner stand of Avenella flexuosa, and (3) old, dense stand of Calamagrostis villosa with a layer of plant litter on the soil surface. Soil temperatures were measured at the soil surface and in the soil depth of 5 and 10 cm. In summer months, the greatest differences in maximal temperatures recorded at the soil surface and at the 5, 10 cm depth between the bare site and the old stand of C. villosa represented 21.6, 15.9, 12.4 deg C, respectively. Soil temperatures measured in the bare plot in autumn months were lower than those in grass stands.

Ammonium and nitrate concentrations in soil were determined in the initial stage of grass stand formation and in old closed grass stands (Avenella flexuosa, Calamagrostis villosa). Higher concentrations of both ammonium and nitrate ions were found in the 0-10 cm soil layer in comparison with the deeper soil layer of 10-20 cm. The amounts of NO3-N and water-soluble NH4+N generally represented only a small part of total mineral nitrogen in samples just removed. Presented data indicate seasonal fluctuations in ammonium and nitrate concentrations in soil.