The Role Of Sea Blight (Suaeda Monoica Forssk. Ex Gmel) In Recovery Of Degraded Mangroves At Mwache Creek, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Given the subsequent degradation and potential encroachment of mangrove ecosystems, the slow recovery nature of these systems and huge restoration failure efforts (100% mortality after planting in some cases) of mangrove ecosystems, quantification of the role of early colonizing vegetation to mangrove systems recovery is necessary. While sea blight (Suaeda monoica) is common in the degraded sites of Mwache Creek mangrove forest in Kenya and within its growing patches a marked regeneration of mangrove seedlings, its role in mangrove forest recovery is not known. This study assessed the effects S. monoica initiates on the biotic and abiotic factors of the degraded mangrove system to enable subsequent re-entry and functional development of the system as a contribution to mangrove intertidal restoration. Using stratified systematic sampling, in sites of naturally growing Avicennia marina Forssk. (Vierh), bushes of S. monoica, adjacent open canopy and adjacent bare sites as controls respectively, measurements of sediment conditions, vegetation structure, species composition, regeneration, faunal densities and diversities, soil; structure, bulk density and carbon stocks were determinants of recovery. Except for nutrients, significant differences in all sediment conditions (p