Assessment of diversity and structural complexity of natural, planted, and naturally-colonized mangrove stands in Ormoc Bay, Leyte [Philippines]
2024
Navidad, J.R.L.
This study assessed the diversity and structural complexity of mangroves in Ormoc Bay, Leyte, by comparing natural, naturally-colonized, and planted stands. Three main objectives were pursued: assessing species diversity, conducting structural analysis, and determining the structural complexity index (SCI). A total of 20 mangrove species were identified, with natural stands exhibiting the highest diversity (H'=1.34), followed by planted (H'=0.99) and colonized stands (H'=0.74). Avicennia marina was the dominant species across all stands, holding the highest importance value, Structural analysis unveiled variations in height, diameter, density, and basal area (BA). Natural stands had the largest average diameter (7.87 +- 0.27 cm), while planted stands had the greatest average height (5.62 +- 0.11 m) and highest tree density (6154 +- 1167 trees/ha). Moreover, restored stands featured had the highest BA (34.63 +- 4.58 m sq/ha). Regarding SCl, restored stands (34.73 +- 7.29) surpassed natural stands (21.51 +- 5.94), indicating higher complexity. The planted stand's higher stand height, basal area, and density rendered it the most structurally complex. Conversely, naturally colonized stands exhibited the lowest SCI (17.85 +- 3.47) due to their less developed vegetation structure. The findings provide a snapshot of the current diversity and structure of different mangrove stands. Notably, SCI emerges as a promising tool for integrating and quantifying mangrove structural complexity.
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