Ocean & Coastal Management 112 (2015) 18e24

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Ocean & Coastal Management

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The ecological effects of beach sand mining in Ghana using ghost crabs
(Ocypode species) as biological indicators
F.E. Jonah a, *, N.W. Agbo b, W. Agbeti b, D. Adjei-Boateng b, M.J. Shimba c
a
Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
b
Department of Fisheries and Watershed Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
c
Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Sandy beaches are habitat to many invertebrate biodiversity and threatened vertebrate species. However,
Received 24 December 2014 extraction of sand is widespread along many developing nations' beaches destroying the ecosystem
Received in revised form services the area provides. This study assessed the ecological impacts of beach sand mining on three
6 May 2015
beaches in the Central Region of Ghana over a four month period, using ghost crabs as a biological in-
Accepted 6 May 2015
Available online 15 May 2015
dicator. Beaches were categorized as near-pristine, moderately disturbed and highly disturbed. Crab
burrows were counted and their diameters measured. Mean burrow density and diameters were
significantly higher at the near-pristine site (ANOVA, p < 0.001) compared to the moderately disturbed
Keywords:
Sand mining
and highly disturbed beaches, whilst no significant differences occurred between mean burrow densities
Ecological impacts and diameters at moderately and highly disturbed beaches (ANOVA, p > 0.05). Beach sand mining was
Ghost crabs found to negatively affect ghost crab populations indicating a critical need for local municipal authorities
Beaches to identify more sustainable and less damaging sources of sand for the construction industry.
Ghana © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Sandy beaches rank amongst the most intensively used coastal
ecosystems by man (Schlacher et al. 2006). Beaches and dunes are
experiencing escalating pressures from rising populations in the
coastal strip and increased demands for recreational access and use
of these systems (Defeo et al. 2009). Notwithstanding the range of
services that sandy beaches provide such as habitation for diverse
organisms; maintenance of biodiversity and genetic resources;
water filtration and purification; nutrient mineralization and
recycling; water storage in dune aquifers and groundwater
discharge; the ecological aspect of sandy beach ecosystems are
usually considered secondary in comparison to economic values of
these beaches (Schlacher et al. 2007). In many jurisdictions around
the world, beach management has almost exclusively focused on
maintaining and restoring sand budgets, with very little consider-
ation for ecological dimensions (Nordstrom, 2000; Wong, 2003;
Schlacher and Thompson, 2007; Aarninkhof et al. 2010). In recent
years, several studies have established that human uses of sandy
beaches causes significant damages to those ecosystems (Barros,
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: auclerof101@gmail.com (F.E. Jonah).
2001; Blankensteyn, 2006; Lucrezi et al. 2009; Magalha ~es et al.
2009; Noriega et al. 2012). These studies support the case that
beach management should not only address the safety of com-
munities and physical stability of infrastructure but should also
consider the impacts on the health of sandy beach ecosystems.
The coastal area in the Cape Coast and Elmina area of Ghana
have been exposed to several anthropogenic influences that have
altered the shape, sediment budgets and substrates of beaches
(Jonah, 2014). Several kinds of coastal mining are practiced along
this area with other human activities such as fisheries, recreation
and tourism (Jonah, 2014). Though sandy beaches support artisanal
fisheries and help to promote tourism, human uses of the area is
known to disturb the near-pristine nature of the sandy beaches
with many potential negative impacts on resident biota.
Past and existing coastal management interventions along
Ghana's coastline have been based on site-specific and ad-hoc in-
terventions without proper analysis and assessment of their im-
pacts leading to several unintended problems (Boateng, 2006).
Beach management efforts ought to be based on acceptable and
reliable techniques known to have very little environmental
consequences.
In establishing appropriate beach management regimes for local
governments, Noriega et al. (2012) noted that part of the dearth in
developing, testing, and implementing management interventions

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2015.05.001
0964-5691/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 F.E. Jonah et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 112 (2015) 18e24
that target the ecological values of beaches is caused by the lack of
local data and the uncertainty about biological indicators that are
both reliable and uncomplicated to use. However, the presence,
population and distribution of the ghost crabs (Ocypode spp) have
been widely regarded as an acceptable biological indicator of beach
ecosystem health and has been used by several scientists (Barros,
2001; Moss and McPhee, 2006; Neves and Bemvenuti, 2006;
Magalha ~es et al. 2009; Lucrezi et al. 2009; Aheto et al. 2011;
Noriega et al. 2012). Ghost crabs are relatively large semi-
terrestrial invertebrates found on tropical and subtropical shores
(Quijon et al. 2001) and occupy the apex position of invertebrate
predation on sandy beaches (Barrass, 1963; Wolcott, 1978). Due to
the conspicuous nature of ghost crab burrows on sandy beaches,
counting and measuring burrow openings is an efficient tool to
estimate changes in ghost crab population structure and density
over a period (Barros, 2001; Moss and McPhee, 2006; Schlacher
et al. 2007). Schlacher et al. (2007) noted that the location of
burrow counts across the shore should spatially match the area
over which a human disturbance occurs and that counts in the
unvegetated, intertidal part of the beach are most practical,
quickest and easiest to execute.
Two species of ghost crabs, Ocypode cursor and Ocypode africana,
are found on sandy beaches in Ghana (Aheto et al. 2011). Previously,
Aheto et al. (2011) used these species to assess the ecological im-
pacts of general human activities including shoreline armouring,
trampling and presence of inorganic pollutants, on two sandy
beaches in the Cape Coast and Elmina area. According to Jonah
(2014) exposed underlying rocks, pronounced erosion scarps and
denuded beaches characterize most beach stretches in the Cape
Coast and Elmina area. These geomorphic characteristics could be
attributed to beach sand mining activities. Byrnes et al. (2004)
speculated that the ecological impacts of beach sand mining ac-
tivities are probably slight for beaches, but not well understood.
This study therefore assessed the effects of beach sand mining ac-
tivities on ghost crab population densities, distribution and sizes on
three beaches in the Saltpond, Cape Coast and Elmina area of
Ghana. The study also examined the distribution of ghost crabs in
relation to sediment grain sizes and beach scarps resulting from
intensive sand mining activities.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Study site
The current study was conducted between October 2013 and
February 2014 on three selected beaches located at Saltpond, Cape
Coast and Elmina area in Ghana. For the purpose of this study,
beaches were qualitatively categorized according to the level of
observed beach sand mining activities (Jonah, 2014), viz, ‘near-
pristine’ (Saltpond - 5
200 29.800 N, 1
0360 18.400 W), ‘moderately
disturbed’ (Cape Coast - 5
100 20.800 N; 1
250 29.900 W) and ‘highly
disturbed’ (Elmina - 5
070 59.900 N; 1
370 50.700 W) (Fig. 1).
The term ‘highly disturbed’ was associated with the Elmina
beach because of the intense commercial sand mining activities
that take place on sections of the beach. Jonah et al. (2015) esti-
mated that 26,208 m3 of sand is annually mined from this beach by
tipper-truck based beach sand miners. The term ‘moderately
disturbed’ was associated with the Cape Coast beach since it sup-
ports small-scale beach sand mining activities. The term ‘near-
pristine’ was used for Saltpond because no direct human activity
takes place there with the area far removed from the nearest town
and also inaccessible to vehicles.
All three beaches fall within the Central coast of Ghana and
experience similar wave climates. Waves along this coast are of
medium energy averaging 1 m in the surf zone (GHAPOHA, 2014)
19
with net direction of alongshore sediment in the easterly direction
(Boateng, 2006; Jonah, 2015). The selected study beaches experi-
ence similar rainfall and temperature patterns throughout the year.
These study beaches are part of longer stretches of individual sandy
beaches that receive riverine influx at one end and are separated at
the other end from other beaches by rocky headlands. Very few
facilities are located along the three study beaches, ensuring the
minimization of human influences on beaches and comparison of
ghost crab populations. These similarities in environmental con-
ditions allowed for comparison of ghost crab population abundance
in the three beaches.
2.2. Determination of ghost crab population density and size
distribution
The major ecological variables that were assessed in this study
were population density and size distribution of ghost crabs. A
distance of 50 m was allowed between the nearest sand mining
spot and ghost crab sampling point. This was to ensure that sam-
pling areas had not been physically removed by sand miners.
Samplings were started before sunrise at low tide periods using
standard tide tables (GHAPOHA, 2013). Samplings were done at
approximately the same time and on the same day to ensure con-
sistency and minimize variation in environmental conditions.
Sampling was done early in the mornings before sunrise in order to
obtain a more accurate population density and distribution of ghost
crabs since they maintain their burrows at night and by morning
are still intact (Noriega et al., 2012).
Sampling was done twice monthly at all the sites over a four
month period. A reference point was established on each beach
from where transects were cast using a Garmin 60CX GPS handheld
device. This ensured consistency in laying transects and quadrat
casting on each beach throughout the study period. On each beach
three transects were laid from the reference point through a
perpendicular direction to the general direction of the coastline at
0 m, 50 m and 100 m (Fig. 2). The intertidal zone of the three
beaches surveyed is 17e31 m wide at low tide.
Population densities of ghost crabs were estimated by counting
the number of burrow openings within quadrats. This has been
widely used by several studies (Barros, 2001; Moss and McPhee,
2006; Valero-Pacheco et al. 2007; Noriega et al. 2012; Türeli
et al., 2014). This follows the assumption that the presence of a
burrow on the beach corresponds to the presence of a crab
(Wolcott, 1978; Warren, 1990; Valero-Pacheco et al. 2007). Burrow
diameters were also measured using a veneer caliper within
quadrats to estimate sizes (carapace length) of crabs. This follows
the findings of Strachan et al. (1999) and Tureli et al. (2009), that
there is a strong positive correlation between carapace length of
ghost crab and burrow diameter.
A quadrat (1 m2) was cast at 4.5 m intervals at five levels starting
from 1 to 2 m from the low water mark line on each transect. This
was then replicated on the other two transects on each sampling
site. This sampling procedure was followed on all surveyed bea-
ches. The diameters of all burrows encountered in all individual
quadrats were measured within all three sites during three surveys.
2.3. Sediment grain sizes analysis and erosion scarp height
measurements
Sediment samples were collected and erosion scarp heights
measured and analyzed as key physical habitat metric of the bea-
ches, since beach fauna are controlled by the physical environment
(Noriega et al. 2012). Sediment sampling was done using sediment
corers (15 mm diameter, 300 mm deep) to collect samples to a
depth of 200 mm from five quadrat levels. Five replicate sediment
20 F.E. Jonah et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 112 (2015) 18e24
Fig. 1. Map indicating the study sites.
cores were taken within each quadrat and analyzed separately to
obtain the variability in grain sizes across the entire beach. Sedi-
ment cores were also used wholly to ensure that the variability in
sediment sizes up to a depth of 200 mm was also captured, since
ghost crabs burrow to depth of 200 mm and over (Lucrezi and
Schlacher, 2014). Samples were analyzed using the ‘sieve
method’. In the laboratory, sediment granulometry was determined
by dry-sieving samples through a nested series of nine sieves ar-
ranged in decreasing order of mesh aperture (4,750, 2,000, 1,000,
710, 600, 425, 300, 200, 75 mm). With the erosion scarp, a surveyor's
tape was used to measure the vertical distance of scarps at the
backshore at 20 m intervals over a total distance of 200 m on each
beach. These were averaged to obtain the average scarp heights on
each beach.
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram showing sampling spacing used during this study.
2.4. Data analysis
A one-way analysis of variance, followed by a post hoc Bonfer-
roni's test was used to compare burrow density and burrow
diameter among sites. Sediment parameters (mean grain size,
sorting, skewness, kurtosis) were calculated with the GRADISTAT
software, using the Folk and Ward method (Blott and Pye, 2001).
Spearman rank correlation was used to find the relationship be-
tween erosion scarp height, sediment grain sizes and ghost crab
burrow density.
3. Results
3.1. Ghost crab population/burrow density
A total of 360 1 m2 quadrats were surveyed for this study with
120 quadrats surveyed at each of the three beaches. Over the four
month period, the near-pristine site recorded a ghost crab burrow
density (mean ± S.E) of 44.0 ± 7.4 m2, while the moderately
disturbed and the highly disturbed sites recorded 18.0 ± 5.2 m2
and 15.1 ± 4.4 m2 respectively (Fig. 3). The mean density of ghost
crab burrows at the near-pristine site differed significantly with the
burrow densities at the moderately disturbed and highly disturbed
sites (ANOVA, p < 0.001, df ¼ 2, F ¼ 7.527).
At the near-pristine site, the highest population of ghost crabs
were recorded at the quadrat 1 level with a reduction in population
density from quadrat 2 to 5 (i.e. population density reduced as you
move away from the water mark) (Fig. 5). The greatest concentra-
tion of ghost crab populations was at quadrat 3 Level for moder-
ately disturbed and quadrat 4 Level for highly disturbed (Fig. 5).
Burrow densities at different levels at the near-pristine site differed
significantly (ANOVA, p < 0.001, df ¼ 4, F ¼ 26.30). However, no
 F.E. Jonah et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 112 (2015) 18e24
Fig. 3. Mean densities (±S.E) of ghost crabs burrows per m2 at near-pristine,
moderately disturbed and highly disturbed beaches, n ¼ 360.
significant differences exist between levels (Bonferonni, p > 0.01) at
both disturbed sites. At the near-pristine site, level 1 recorded
136.7 ± 22.2 m2, level 2 recorded 59.1 ± 10.1 m2, level 3 recorded
13.3 ± 2.0 m2, level 4 recorded 7.4 ± 2.3 m2 whilst level 5
recorded 3.5 ± 0.3 m2 in respective burrow densities. Burrow
densities (mean ± S.E) recorded at the moderately disturbed site
were 13.3 ± 4.1 m2, 16.3 ± 2.3 m2, 29.8 ± 9.9 m2, 26.0 ± 8.5 m2
and 4.6 ± 1.4 m2 at levels 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. At the highly
disturbed site, recorded burrow densities were 13 ± 6.8 m2,
10.3 ± 3.9 m2, 15.3 ± 2.6 m2, 20.8 ± and 16.3 ± 4.8 m2 at levels 1,
2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively.
3.2. Ghost crab burrow size and distribution
The burrow diameters measured range from 2.0 mme40.0 mm
at the near-pristine site, 2.0 mme40.5 mm at the moderately
disturbed site and 2.0 mme55.3 mm at the highly disturbed site.
The mean burrow diameter at the near-pristine site was signifi-
cantly higher than the mean burrow diameters at both the
moderately disturbed and highly disturbed sites (ANOVA, p < 0.001,
df ¼ 2, F ¼ 7.965) (Fig. 5). Though there was no significant differ-
ence between the means of burrow diameters at the moderately
disturbed and the highly disturbed sites (Bonferroni, p > 0.05),
mean ghost crab burrow diameter (mean ± S.E) was slightly higher
at the moderately disturbed site (7.8 mm ± 3.0) than at the highly
Fig. 4. Mean burrow density (±S.E) trends at near-pristine, moderately disturbed and
highly disturbed beaches from November 2013 to February 2014, n ¼ 360.
21
Fig. 5. Mean burrow densities (mean ± S.E) recorded for five quadrats at near-pristine,
moderately disturbed and highly disturbed.
disturbed site (7.5 mm ± 2.2). The mean ghost crab burrow diam-
eter (mean ± S.E) recorded for the near-pristine site was
20.8 mm ± 2.9 (Fig. 6). The mean burrow diameters at each level
were always larger at the near-pristine site than at the corre-
sponding levels on the disturbed sites except at level 1 (Fig. 7).
Mean burrow diameters were also higher at the near-pristine site
throughout all three burrow diameter surveys.
3.3. Grain sizes and erosion scarp height versus ghost crab density
Sediments from all the sites fell in the medium size category,
though there were slight variabilities in overall mean grain sizes.
Grain sizes (mean ± S.D) were 478 ± 71 mm at the near-pristine site,
578 ± 71 mm at the moderately disturbed site and 542 ± 200 at the
highly disturbed site. Pooled data from all sites indicated that there
is a strong negative correlation between grain size and burrow
density (Spearman r, r ¼ 0.655, p ¼ 0.546).
The highly disturbed site also had the greatest mean erosion
scarp height of 1.89 m, while the moderately disturbed site and
near-pristine sites had mean scarp heights of 0.304 m and 0.04 m
respectively. Pooled data of scarp heights showed a very strong
negative correlation between scarp heights and burrow density
(Spearman's r, r ¼ 0.963, p ¼ 0.173).
4. Discussion
Saltpond, Cape Coast and Elmina coastlines are very important
areas for tourism in Ghana. All three colonial castles that have been
designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in Ghana are located
along the coastline of Cape Coast and Elmina and attract visitors
Fig. 6. Mean burrow diameters (mm ± S.E) at near-pristine, moderately disturbed and
highly disturbed beaches.
22 F.E. Jonah et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 112 (2015) 18e24
Fig. 7. Mean burrow sizes (mm ± S.E) across the quadrats at near-pristine site,
moderately disturbed site and highly disturbed site.
from within and outside Ghana (Boateng, 2012). In recent years
several tourism facilities have been developed in these areas to take
advantage of the coastal touristic industry. Several communities are
also located close to the sea, on land that used to be habited by
vegetation and sand dunes. Beach erosion has been accelerated as a
result of these increased community expansion projects (Jonah,
2014), with several low-lying communities and infrastructure be-
ing seasonally affected by floods during rainstorms. Several sea
defence structures have been used to protect investments and
communities that are most vulnerable to sea waves.
4.1. Ghost crab population/burrow density
There were no significant differences in ghost crab burrow
densities between the moderately disturbed beach and highly
disturbed beach (Bonferroni, p > 0.01). There were no significant
differences in ghost crab burrow densities between the different
months of the study at all the three sites (Bonferroni, p > 0.01).
However, ghost crab populations increased throughout the study
period (i.e. from November to February) at the near-pristine site,
while that at both the moderately disturbed and highly disturbed
beaches increased from November to December but decreased
from January to February (Fig. 4).
Lower ghost crab abundance have been reported in human
impacted areas in several studies that investigated various human
impacts such as trampling (Steiner and Leatherman, 1981; Neves
and Bemvenuti, 2006), off-road vehicles (Wolcott and Wolcott,
1984; Blankensteyn, 2006; Moss and McPhee, 2006), shore
armouring (Barros, 2001; Aheto et al. 2011) and beach nourishment
and bulldozing (Peterson et al. 2000).
Our results conforms to the findings of Aheto et al. (2011) that
no significant difference exist between the population of ghost
crabs in moderately and highly disturbed beaches in the Cape Coast
and Elmina area, even though the moderately disturbed beach has a
slightly higher mean density of ghost crab burrows. For this study,
the implication is most likely that both small-scale beach sand
mining and large-scale commercial beach sand mining activities
highly affects the population of ghost crabs.
Monthly mean ghost crab burrow densities consistently
increased at Saltpond throughout the four month survey period,
indicating continued recruitment on the beach. However, both
disturbed beaches in Cape Coast and Elmina, experienced an in-
crease in mean ghost crab burrow densities only between
November and December but decreased from December to
February. Sand mining activities are driven by demand by the
construction industry with a higher demand during the dry season,
which is normally from mid-November to March when construc-
tion activities are at their peak (Jonah, 2014). The observed decline
in ghost crab densities on the moderately and highly disturbed
beaches could have been as a result of increased sand mining ac-
tivities. Sand miners may have carried crabs along with the sand
they took, likely interfering with reproduction and recruitment.
Also, since ghost crabs are scavengers and predators that rely on
organic matter and smaller prey for food, food resources may be
carried off by sand miners reducing the food supplies available to
organism.
Al-Solamy and Hussein (2012) observed that though juvenile
recruitment of Ocypode saratan occurred throughout the year, the
species displayed high sexual activity in the summer. It is possible
that O. africana and O. cursor exhibit similar activities and may
partly explain the burrow density trends recorded during this
study. With the end of the wet season and start of the dry season in
November, the ghost crabs may have increased their sexual and
reproductive activities leading to an increase in the number of
recruited juveniles. This may very well explain the continued in-
crease in recorded burrow densities at the near-pristine site
throughout the four month study period.
Though this study was not conducted exactly at the locations
where sand is excavated, beach sand mining activities seem to have
relative impact on the population of ghost crabs several meters
away. As a result of longshore transport of sediment along the coast,
wave and tidal actions, the impacts of sand mining on the physical
coastal environments may not be localized but could be experi-
€
enced several kilometers away (Ozhan, 2002).
4.2. Effects of sand mining on ghost crab burrow sizes
Several studies have identified burrow diameters of ghost crab
to be suitable indicators in assessing human impacts on sandy
beaches (Souza et al., 2008; Hobbs et al., 2008; Aheto et al., 2011). In
this study, we found significantly bigger burrow diameters on the
near-pristine site than the disturbed beaches. However, there were
no significant differences between the burrow diameters found on
the moderately and highly disturbed sites in contrast to the find-
ings of Aheto et al. (2011). These authors found significant differ-
ences between ghost crab burrow diameters on moderately and
highly disturbed beaches with presence of different levels of inor-
ganic pollutant and trampling in the Cape Coast and Elmina area.
Results obtained in this study most likely indicate that the different
intensities of beach sand mining activities similarly affect ghost
crab burrow diameters. The larger burrow sizes recorded at the
near-pristine site suggest that ghost crabs may have lived longer at
the near-pristine site or that they have access to better nutrition
than those on the disturbed sites.
In this study, though it was found that ghost crab burrows of
larger sizes could be situated anywhere across all three beaches,
from the high water mark to the berm vegetation, the means of
burrow sizes found at the near-pristine site showed an increasing
burrow size trend as one moved away from the water mark towards
the dune. Larger crabs are able to hold moisture on their gills for
longer periods and can therefore move higher up the beach to feed.
In contrast juvenile crabs need to be closer to the water's edge
whilst feeding in order to frequently moisten their gills. Moreover,
larger ghost crabs can dig deeper burrows (Schlacher et al. 2007) to
access the water table and hence do not necessarily need to be
closer to the tide line. The highly disturbed beach showed a similar
increasing mean burrow size pattern across all levels, although
there was a slight reduction in the mean size at the 4th quadrat
level. The moderately disturbed site however had the largest mean
burrow size at the 3rd quadrat level. Field observations indicated
that the moderately disturbed beach has a steeper beach slope as
 F.E. Jonah et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 112 (2015) 18e24
compared to the near-pristine and the highly disturbed sites which
have gentler slopes. It is possible that larger sized ghost crabs at the
moderately disturbed site preferred the 3rd quadrat zone because
they could assess the water table better there.
4.3. Sediment grain sizes, erosion scarp heights and ghost crab
distribution
Studies elsewhere suggest that ghost crabs prefer beaches with
medium sand sizes. Noriega et al. (2012) found that all the beaches
that they surveyed were in the medium category. Tureli et al.
(2009) also found the ghost crabs they surveyed in Turkey to pre-
fer medium grain sand. McLachlan (1996)'s observation that beach
sand mining may alter particle size, changing the morphodynamic
state of beaches and intertidal benthic communities, reinforces
results of this study. Results from this study showed a strong
negative correlation between sediment grain size and burrow
density. It is therefore possible that the higher mean sediment grain
sizes encountered at the moderately disturbed and the highly
disturbed sites could partly be responsible for the lower burrow
densities at those locations. Furthermore, beaches with visibly large
sediment grain sizes and coarser texture had fewer burrow open-
ings (F.E. Jonah, personal observation). It is possible that large sized
grains do not support the integrity of burrows and may easily break
down on crabs; also somewhat explaining the differences in
recorded burrow densities.
Also, beaches with coarser sand are better flushed by wave
action than beaches with fine sand (Defeo et al. 2009). This im-
plies that coarse sand beaches hold less water than fine sand
beaches. Ghost crabs most likely prefer habiting burrows located
at beach sections that can hold enough moisture to aid their
respiration, especially during periods when they are less active. It
is possible that the moderately and highly disturbed beaches
provided less suitable water holding capacities than the near-
pristine beach, therefore accounting for their lower ghost crab
densities.
Fig. 5 shows the highest density of burrows at the highly
disturbed beach site to occur on the fourth quadrat level, whilst the
highest concentration of burrows on the moderately disturbed site
was on third quadrat level. These were opposed to the trends at the
near-pristine site where the highest concentration of burrows were
located on the first quadrat level. This seems to indicate that crabs
on the disturbed beaches preferred habiting higher up the beach,
probably to escape the full force of sea waves that hits the beaches
as a result of the lowered level of the beach through the extraction
of sand.
Erosion scarp formation on beaches is known to be one of the
negative consequences of beach sand mining (Mensah, 1997;
Esteves et al., 2002). Since a very strong negative correlation was
found between erosion scarp height and burrow density, it is
indicative that beach sand mining directly affects the population of
ghost crabs on beaches.
4.4. Conclusion
This study has provided enough evidence to support the asser-
tion that beach sand mining significantly affects sandy beach eco-
systems. Both small-scale beach sand mining activities practiced by
community members and large scale commercial sand mining have
been identified to negatively affect ghost crab densities and sizes.
Sediment grain sizes and erosion scarp height on beaches were also
found to be negatively correlated with burrow density. It is there-
fore crucial to curtail beach sand mining activities if beach eco-
systems are to be supported.
23
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