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An ordination study to view vegetation structure dynamics in disturbed and undisturbed mangrove forests in Kenya and Sri Lanka

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Abstract

The mangrove vegetation of a disturbed and undisturbed site in bothKenya and Sri Lanka was investigated in the field for three vegetation layers:adult trees, young trees, and juvenile trees. A minimum of 25 sample points, inwhich the vegetation was described and environmental factors (salinity, lightintensity, land/water ratio, abundance of herbivorous crabs and snailabundance)were measured or estimated, were taken on each site. Detrended correspondenceanalysis (DCA) and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) were used tosummarize the data bulk, to investigate the vegetation dynamics(e.g., comparability of species distribution in the threevegetation layers), and/or to link the vegetation data to the environmentalfactors. Results showed that species clusters were relatively easy todelineate,whether mangrove zonation was present or not. Among the environmental factors,the abundance of propagule predators (mostly sesarmid crabs) contributedsignificantly to the variation in vegetation and could be an explanatoryparameter for the observed vegetation data in a majority of sites. In the sitewhere it was not, the most important factor in the ordination was theland/waterratio, which is important at the ecological level as well (link between waterlevel and vegetation dynamics). However, none of the environmental factorscouldsuccessfully explain the total variability in the vegetation data suggestingthat other, more determining factors exist. Our results further provideinformation on the dynamic or non-dynamic nature of a forest and on its abilityto rejuvenate, and may contribute to appropriate forestry management guidelinesin the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of General Botany and Nature Management, Mangrove Management Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium

    F. Dahdouh-Guebas & N. Koedam

  2. Kenyan Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, P.O. Box 81651, Mombasa, Kenya

    J.G. Kairo

  3. Department of Botany, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka

    L.P. Jayatissa

  4. Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e Genetica 'Leo Pardi', Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Romana 17, I-50125, Firenze, Italy

    S. Cannicci

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  1. F. Dahdouh-Guebas
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  2. J.G. Kairo
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  3. L.P. Jayatissa
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  4. S. Cannicci
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  5. N. Koedam
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Dahdouh-Guebas, F., Kairo, J., Jayatissa, L. et al. An ordination study to view vegetation structure dynamics in disturbed and undisturbed mangrove forests in Kenya and Sri Lanka. Plant Ecology 161, 123–135 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020333706650

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