Restoring Mangrove Habitats through Hybrid Nature-Based Engineering for Improved Aquatic Faunal Recovery

Abstract

The mangrove ecosystems form a very important part of the coastal ecology as they offer a home to a wide variety of aquatic life, such as fish and crustaceans. Nevertheless, the massive destruction of these habitats by human activities like deforestation, coastal development and pollution has resulted in loss of a lot in the ecological functions as well as faunal diversity. It is important to note that in order to reverse this trend, effective restoration strategies are needed. This paper evaluates the benefits of hybrid nature-based engineering (H NBE) as a mangrove habitat restoration model. H NBE incorporates unnatural structures into the natural planting and hydrological modifications in order to augment the complexity and have a better environmental factor. The research assessment included assessing the recovery of aquatic fauna such as richness and abundance of species and structure of communities in restored mangrove sites in the presence of H NBE. The sample was sampled according to a before after, control impact (BACI) study design, where the sampling protocols covered fish, crustaceans, and benthic organisms. Other important findings were that faunal abundance and diversity values were greatly enhanced with the implementation of H NBE, habitat structure (root complexity) was also restored, sediments were stabilized and also the water quality parameters (salinity and oxygen levels) improved. Such findings confirm that H NBE is a useful tool in restoring the mangrove habitats and fauna restoration. The application of H NBE in the degraded mangrove areas around the world should also be increased, but long-term monitoring will be necessary to evaluate the long-term ecological positive effects of H NBE.