Mangrove Restoration under Different Disturbances Regime in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

Mangroves of the Niger Delta are the largest in Africa and are the source of numerous ecosystem services such as firewood, seafood, building materials and medicinal herbs. Their sustainable use and protection are important for future generations. However, anthropogenic activities such as oil and gas exploration, urbanization, industrialization, dredging, overexploitation and sand mining are the major disturbances that have pushed the mangroves to the brink of extinction. Therefore, in other to restore lost areas of the mangroves natural and artificial means can be adopted to bring them to a restored state. More often than not emphasis of recovery had been placed on artificial remediation and restoration, where polluted sites are cleaned with chemicals and nursery seedlings transplanted to remediated such sites. Nevertheless, this chapter discusses the possibility of utilizing natural means of forest recovery through seedling recruitment and regeneration. This can be achieved by establishing the right environmental conditions such as setting up of a hydro-channel to ensure smooth inflow and out flow of river water carrying seeds, availability of parent mangrove trees to supply the seeds, and the availability of the right soil condition to enable seedling germination and growth. The use of dried and ground mangrove parts as a new way for restoring polluted soil is discussed; in addition, the unconventional proposition of using low key pollution to manage and increase forest resilience is highlighted in this work even though further studies are recommended. Future direction of mangrove restoration should be tilted towards the application of the force of nature, which has the potentials of reversing the adverse effect of anthropogenic activities in well managed and protected sites.

Evaluation potentiality of Rhizophora mucronata plantation for pollutants remediation on the Red Sea Coast, Egypt

“…Regarding the calculated BCF values, R. mucronata has been able to accumulate all metals under study following the order of root > aerial roots > shoot. The same finding were obtained by [39] where metal concentrations decreased from the root region to the stem and leaves of Rhizophora apiculata seedlings and also coincide with [40] and [41] where roots of mangroves plants were found to have the higher metal concentrations than aerial parts. The majority of the heavy metals are held in place by the mangrove roots through bounding with the cell wall material or other macromolecules, thus roots act as a barrier and reduce their transfer to other sensitive plant parts [42].…”

The Niger Delta Mangrove Ecosystem and Its Conservation Challenges

“…Hydrological links to natural restoration sites are also significant in allowing saline water inflow and mangrove seeds. The inflow of water also cleans the site from oil spillage and other pollutants [37].…”