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Diversity
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Mangrove Regeneration and Restoration
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Mangrove Regeneration and Restoration

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2024) | Viewed by 17663

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Thomas Fickert

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Passau, Innstraße 40, 94032 Passau, Germany
Interests: mangrove ecology; high mountain research; vegetation dynamics; plant ecology; plant diversity; vegetation geography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mangroves provide many fundamental ecosystem services. Hence, after disturbances—both natural, such as tropical storms or tsunamis, and anthropogenic, e.g., by deforestation, oil spill or conversion to shrimp ponds—reforestation efforts are widespread, with the intention of accelerating the return to vital mangroves, which are able to provide their ecosystem services to humans again. Most of these labor-intensive initiatives, however, fail for a variety of reasons and the question arises whether natural grow back wouldn’t be an easier and probably more successful way back to intact mangroves, even if a certain time lag has to be accepted. This Special Issue of Diversity is aimed to provide a platform to present case studies of successful and failed restoration projects and to discuss the underlying reasons. It also welcomes studies investigating natural regeneration dynamics in disturbed mangrove forest and so on.

Dr. Thomas Fickert
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Mangrove
  • Disturbance
  • Reforestation
  • Natural regeneration
  • Resilience

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 4549 KiB  
Article
Benthic Community Metrics Track Hydrologically Stressed Mangrove Systems
by Amanda W. J. Demopoulos, Jill R. Bourque, Jennifer P. McClain-Counts, Nicole Cormier and Ken W. Krauss
Diversity 2024, 16(11), 659; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16110659 - 25 Oct 2024
Viewed by 753
Abstract
Mangrove restoration efforts have increased in order to help combat their decline globally. While restoration efforts often focus on planting seedlings, underlying chronic issues, including disrupted hydrological regimes, can hinder restoration success. While improving hydrology may be more cost-effective and have higher success [...] Read more.
Mangrove restoration efforts have increased in order to help combat their decline globally. While restoration efforts often focus on planting seedlings, underlying chronic issues, including disrupted hydrological regimes, can hinder restoration success. While improving hydrology may be more cost-effective and have higher success rates than planting seedlings alone, hydrological restoration success in this form is poorly understood. Restoration assessments can employ a functional equivalency approach, comparing restoration areas over time with natural, reference forests in order to quantify the relative effectiveness of different restoration approaches. Here, we employ the use of baseline community ecology metrics along with stable isotopes to track changes in the community and trophic structure and enable time estimates for establishing mangrove functional equivalency. We examined a mangrove system impacted by road construction and recently targeted for hydrological restoration within the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Florida, USA. Samples were collected along a gradient of degradation, from a heavily degraded zone, with mostly dead trees, to a transition zone, with a high number of saplings, to a full canopy zone, with mature trees, and into a reference zone with dense, mature mangrove trees. The transition, full canopy, and reference zones were dominated by annelids, gastropods, isopods, and fiddler crabs. Diversity was lower in the dead zone; these taxa were enriched in 13C relative to those found in all the other zones, indicating a shift in the dominant carbon source from mangrove detritus (reference zone) to algae (dead zone). Community-wide isotope niche metrics also distinguished zones, likely reflecting dominant primary food resources (baseline organic matter) present. Our results suggest that stable isotope niche metrics provide a useful tool for tracking mangrove degradation gradients. These baseline data provide critical information on the ecosystem functioning in mangrove habitats following hydrological restoration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mangrove Regeneration and Restoration)
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22 pages, 2825 KiB  
Article
Eco-Engineering Mangrove Restoration at Gazi Bay, Kenya
by Gladys Kinya, James Gitundu Kairo, Rossa Ngendo Nyoike, Josphat Gachoki Nguu, Brian Kiiru Githinji and Michael N. Githaiga
Diversity 2024, 16(3), 135; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16030135 - 22 Feb 2024
Viewed by 2701
Abstract
Mangroves offer a range of globally acknowledged advantages, yet they continue to be lost and degraded. Efforts to restore lost mangroves using conventional techniques in high-energy areas result in low success rates due to the removal of seedlings via wave action. We assessed [...] Read more.
Mangroves offer a range of globally acknowledged advantages, yet they continue to be lost and degraded. Efforts to restore lost mangroves using conventional techniques in high-energy areas result in low success rates due to the removal of seedlings via wave action. We assessed the efficacy of using modified Riley Encasement Methods in the restoration of mangroves in high-energy areas in Gazi Bay, Kenya. Vegetation and soil baseline data were collected in 49 square plots of 100 m2, which were established along belt transects perpendicular to the shoreline. The following mangrove vegetation data was collected: species composition, tree height (m), and stem diameter (cm). From these, the importance value index (IV), basal area, and standing density (stems/ha) were derived. Sediment cores were made in the center of each square plot for carbon and grain size analysis. Mangrove (Rhizophora mucronata) planting adopted a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in which the planting area was divided into three blocks (A, B, C). Within each block, treatments (bamboo and different-sized PVC pipes) were randomly assigned locations. The results of the study reveal significant variations in survival and growth rates among treatments. Higher survival rates were recorded for seedlings grown within PVC encasements (43%), surpassing bamboo (1%) and control groups (4%). Our findings suggest that PVC pipes were efficient in supporting and protecting seedlings from external forces. We expound on the implications of the results and highlight potential enhancements for the effectiveness of encasement technique in mangrove restoration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mangrove Regeneration and Restoration)
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16 pages, 1951 KiB  
Article
Mangrove Rehabilitation and Brachyuran Crab Biodiversity in Ranong, Thailand
by Elizabeth C. Ashton and Donald J. Macintosh
Diversity 2024, 16(2), 92; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16020092 - 1 Feb 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2284
Abstract
Mangroves rehabilitated after deforestation by commercial exploitation must be monitored to confirm that key ecosystem functions are being restored. Brachyuran crabs are conspicuous mangrove macrofauna and were selected as potential indicators of ecosystem recovery. A deforested former mangrove charcoal concession area in Ranong [...] Read more.
Mangroves rehabilitated after deforestation by commercial exploitation must be monitored to confirm that key ecosystem functions are being restored. Brachyuran crabs are conspicuous mangrove macrofauna and were selected as potential indicators of ecosystem recovery. A deforested former mangrove charcoal concession area in Ranong was rehabilitated by planting Rhizophora (1994), Bruguiera and Ceriops (1995) seedlings in single-species blocks. A second area, deforested and heavily degraded by tin mining, was rehabilitated with R. mucronata in 1985. Crabs at these sites were compared with those in a mixed-species conservation forest. Timed collections were made in 1999, 2008 and 2019 to compare crab diversity and relative abundance between sites and years. Thirty-three brachyuran crab species were recorded. Fiddler crabs (Austruca triangularis, Tubuca rosea) and the signal crab, Metaplax elegans, were most abundant, followed by sesarmid crabs (15 species). Species composition differed significantly between sites but not between the four planted tree species blocks. We propose Metaplax elegans as an indicator of ecological development in low-lying/newly formed sediments; fiddler crabs as equivalent indicators in young mangrove plantations/open forest habitats; and a diverse sesarmid community to indicate ecological functioning in older plantations/dense forests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mangrove Regeneration and Restoration)
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14 pages, 1025 KiB  
Article
Lingering Impacts of Hurricane Hugo on Rhizophora mangle (Red Mangrove) Population Genetics on St. John, USVI
by Paul. A. X. Bologna, James J. Campanella, Dena J. Restaino, Zachary A. Fetske, Matthew Lourenco and John V. Smalley
Diversity 2019, 11(4), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11040065 - 23 Apr 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4333
Abstract
Stochastic events can have catastrophic effects on island populations through a series of genetic stressors from reduced population size. We investigated five populations of red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) from St. John, USVI, an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, which were impacted by Hurricane [...] Read more.
Stochastic events can have catastrophic effects on island populations through a series of genetic stressors from reduced population size. We investigated five populations of red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) from St. John, USVI, an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, which were impacted by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Our goal was to determine diversity and to ascertain potential population bottlenecks two decades after the event. With the lowest observed heterozygosity, highest inbreeding coefficient, and evidence of a major bottleneck, our results demonstrated that the Great Lameshur mangroves, devastated by Hurricane Hugo, were the least diverse stand of trees. The other four populations from St. John manifested diversity reflecting the vegetation patterns of “fringing” mangrove or “developed forest” characteristics. The two fringing mangrove populations (Hurricane Hole and New Found Bay) evinced low observed heterozygosity and high inbreeding coefficients, while the fully forested sites showed higher heterozygosity and lower inbreeding frequencies. As such, fringing mangroves may be at greater risk to disturbance events and especially susceptible to sea level rise since they do not have room landward to expand. Our pair-wise population analysis indicated genetic similarity between the hurricane-damaged Great Lameshur and Coral Bay population, whose propagules were used in previous restoration attempts and is the geographically closest population. While the effective population size for Great Lameshur Bay places it in risk of genetic dysfunction, future rehabilitation of the site may be possible by the introduction of propagules from other regions of the island. However, recovery will ultimately be contingent upon hydrological connectivity and environmental improvements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mangrove Regeneration and Restoration)
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15 pages, 5601 KiB  
Article
Natural Regeneration of the Mangrove Vegetation on Abandoned Salt Ponds in Ceará, in the Semi-Arid Region of Northeastern Brazil
by Armando Soares dos Reis-Neto, Antonio Jeovah de Andrade Meireles and Marília Cunha-Lignon
Diversity 2019, 11(2), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11020027 - 23 Feb 2019
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5444
Abstract
The development of the mangrove in Ceará state, northeastern Brazil, is limited by local environmental and climatic factors, associated with the variables that determine the region’s semi-arid climatic conditions. The same conditions also contribute to the installation of artisanal saltworks in estuarine environments. [...] Read more.
The development of the mangrove in Ceará state, northeastern Brazil, is limited by local environmental and climatic factors, associated with the variables that determine the region’s semi-arid climatic conditions. The same conditions also contribute to the installation of artisanal saltworks in estuarine environments. The artisanal production of salt peaked in the 20th century, but with the decline of this activity, the salt evaporation ponds were abandoned, and have been incorporated back into the natural marine-estuarine environment and colonized by mangrove forests. In the early 2000s, however, the expansion of shrimp farming operations impacted this same environment. The present study was based on a spatiotemporal analysis of the natural regeneration of the mangrove vegetation in abandoned salt pond areas in the Brazilian semi-arid region between 1968 and 2009. The integrated analysis of mangrove ecosystem dynamics and the legislation that regulates the licensing of these economic activities identified a number of technical problems in the formulation and execution of the COEMA resolution 02/2002, which permits the installation of shrimp farms in areas dominated by the mangrove. The findings of the present study reinforce the need for a careful reformulation of the Ceará state environmental legislation, in order to guarantee the maximum possible conservation of the coastal zone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mangrove Regeneration and Restoration)
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