Abstract
To examine the natural colonisation of native mangrove species into remediated exotic mangrove stands in Leizhou Bay, South China, we compared soil physical–chemical properties, community structure and recruitments of barren mangrove areas, native mangrove species plantations, and exotic mangrove species—Sonneratia apetala Buch.Ham—between plantations and natural forest. We found that severely degraded mangrove stands could not regenerate naturally without human intervention due to severely altered local environments, whereas some native species had been recruited into the 4–10 year S. apetala plantations. In the first 10 years, the exotic species S. apetala grew better than native species such as Rhizophora stylosa Griff and Kandelia candel (Linn.) Druce. The mangrove plantation gradually affected soil physical and chemical properties during its recovery. The exotic S. apetala was more competitive than native species and its plantation was able to restore soil organic matter in about 14 years. Thus, S. apetala can be considered as a pioneer species to improve degraded habitats to facilitate recolonisation by native mangrove species. However, removal to control proliferation may be needed at late stages to facilitate growth of native species. To ensure sustainability of mangroves in South China, the existing mangrove wetlands must be managed as an ecosystem, with long-term scientific monitoring program in place.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Drs. Rui-Jiang Wang and Hong-Fu Wan of the South China Botanical Garden and all staff of the Administration of Zhanjiang Mangrove National Natural Reserve for field assistance during the study. We also thank anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the early version of the manuscript. This project was supported by the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-SW-132), Natural Science Foundation of China (30670370, 30600072) and the Guangdong Sci-Tech Planning Project (2005B60301001).
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Ren, H., Jian, S., Lu, H. et al. Restoration of mangrove plantations and colonisation by native species in Leizhou bay, South China. Ecol Res 23, 401–407 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-007-0393-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-007-0393-9