ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the ecological and hydrological principles which underscore successful mangrove rehabilitation. Ecological approaches to mangrove rehabilitation work with natural recruitment, using naturally occurring propagules as the primary source for regeneration, and are generally underpinned by the goal of re-establishing fully functioning ecosystems. In The Botany of Mangroves, Tomlinson makes the important observation that mangroves 'have clearly pronounced characteristics of pioneer species in their reproductive biology but of a mature-phase species in some aspects of their community structure'. In a healthy system toppled adult mangroves from the mesozone may be replaced by pioneer species from the seaward zone as well as halophytic grasses tolerant to tidal inundation. An important outcome of the rehabilitation project were few guiding principles which differ slightly from the five and six-step ecological mangrove rehabilitation (EMR) processes that appear in most literature.
