Mangrove wetlands are one of the most important ecosystems on earth, providing habitats for both marine and terrestrial organisms as well as supporting essential human services. However, high dependence of humans on these systems is leading to significant transformation of mangrove wetlands and reduction in their ecosystem services including fisheries. The objectives of this study were to estimate the biomass of two mangrove wetlands in Ghana within urban and rural contexts and determine the fish fauna assemblages as part of baseline setting. The study used the structural parameters of mangrove species and allometry to estimate the biomass of both forest systems. Fish community structure were determined based on ecological surveys. The findings show that the standing biomass of the mangrove forests were significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the rural wetland (394.49 t/ha) compared to the urban wetland (126.29 t/ ha). Fish fauna assemblages, referring to species richness and diversity were higher in the urban wetland at 4.21 and 2.64 respectively compared to the rural wetland at 3.46 and 2.09 respectively. This paper concludes that a well-developed mangrove system with high mangrove biomass may not necessarily imply high fish species richness and diversity.

Pouteria campachiana is a multipurpose fruit tree with diverse economic and medicinal significance. However, seed dormancy and low germination are problems for its use in agro-forestry practices. Investigations were carried out on the effect of pre-treatment on the germination and early seedling growth of P. campachiana. Germination was observed in seeds pre-treated with soaking and mechanical scarification in the 5th week after sowing, while untreated seeds germinated in the 7th week. Comparison between mechanically scarified and unscarified P. campachiana seeds showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). The study showed that soaking P. campachina seeds in cold water was not good for its germination, with a significant difference between soaked seeds and non soaked seeds. Percentage germination of seeds not soaked was 62.2% compared to 26.7% and 24.4% recorded for seeds soaked for 24 h and 48 h, respectively. The application of different pre-treatments, however, had no significant (P > 0.05) influence on the mean shoot length, collar diameter, and the number of leaves of P. campachiana. The study concludes that mechanical scarification improves germination of P. campachiana while soaking with cold water has a negative influence on seed germination.