Dramatic changes in the horizontal structure of mangrove forests in the largest delta of the northern Beibu Gulf, China
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Abstract: The horizontal structure of mangrove forests is an important characteristic that reflects a significant signal for coupling between mangroves and external drivers. While the loss and gain of mangroves has received much attention, little information about how the horizontal structure of mangrove forests develops from the seedling stage to maturity has been presented. Here, remote sensing images taken over approximately 15 years, UVA images, nutrient elements, sediments, and Aegiceras corniculatum vegetation parameters of the ecological quadrats along the Nanliu Delta, the largest delta of the northern Beibu Gulf in China, are analyzed to reveal changes in the horizontal structure of mangroves and their associated driving factors. The results show that both discrete structures and agglomerated structures can often be found in A. corniculatum seedlings and saplings. However, the combination of seedlings growing into maturity and new seedlings filling in available gaps causes the discrete structure of A. corniculatum to gradually vanish and the agglomerate structure to become stable. The aggregated structure of seedlings, compared to the discrete structure, can enhance the elevation beneath mangroves by trapping significantly more sediments, providing available spaces and conditions for seedlings to continue growing. Furthermore, by catching fine sediments with enriched nutrients, the survival rate of A. corniculatum seedlings in the agglomerated structure can be much higher than that in the discrete structure. Our results highlight the significance of the agglomeration of A. corniculatum, which can be beneficial to coastal mangrove restoration and management.
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Figure 1. The study area and the experimental design, location of the study area (a), Nanliu Delta (b), the experimental site of Nanliu Delta (c).
Figure 2. Artificial quadrats with two different mangrove structures for the Aegiceras corniculatum population.
Figure 4. Agglomerated structure development characteristics of Aegiceras corniculatum. a. Sections I–IV on the tidal flat of Qixing Island; b. agglomerated structure development process of A. corniculatum.
Figure 5. Vegetation growth between agglomerated and discrete ecological quadrats, quadrat G in October 2020 (a), quadrat D in 2020 (b), quadrat G in January 2022 (c), quadrat D in January 2022 (d). Photos a and b taken on October 5, 2020, Photos c and d taken on January 8, 2022.
Table 1. Comparison of plant growth between the G and D quadrats
G quadrats D quadrats Number of plants (N) Average plant height (H)/cm Average crown width (P)/cm Number of plants (N) Average plant height (H)/cm Average crown width (P)/cm 2020-10-05 40 33.6 17.6 40 37.6 14.6 2022-01-08 38 39.6 27.3 32 40.0 30.1 
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Table 2. Comparison of GR and PR between the G and D quadrats
G quadrats D quadrats Number of plants (N) Average plant height (H) Average crown width (P) Number of plants (N) Average plant height (H) Average crown width (P) GR/% 17.86 55.11 6.38 106.16 PR/% 95.0 80
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Table 3. Comparison of the mean grain size of the sediment between quadrats G and D
G quadrats/μm D quadrats/μm 2020-10-05 72.26±5.13 95.95±3.89 2022-01-08 68.02±1.56 76.47±2.04
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Table 4. Comparison of the nutritive element contents of the sediment between the G and D quadrats
G quadrats D quadrats TN content/(g·kg−1) TP content/(g·kg−1) TK content/(g·kg−1) TN content/(g·kg−1) TP content/(g·kg−1) TK content/(g·kg−1) 2020-10-08 0.081±0.051 0.046±0.001 0.908±0.039 0.065±0.005 0.045±0.002 0.856±0.055 2021-10-11 0.066±0.008 0.034±0.07 1.049±0.030 0.062±0.007 0.035±0.004 0.998±0.074
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