1.5. Study aims
The aim of this study was to identify a useful rehabilitation
technique for implementation in high erosion areas. To do this,
vegetation and faunal communities were used as bioindicators to
evaluate the success of two erosion-mitigating mangrove rehabilitation
techniques. Mangrove areas were categorised as: basic
fenced areas; areas fenced by the Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve
Project (KGBRP) and old-growth vegetation (see Section 2.1). The
success of the basic fenced and KGBRP fenced rehabilitation areas
was measured by comparing attributes of the vegetation and faunal
communities in the rehabilitation areas to those in adjacent oldgrowth
areas. If one rehabilitation technique resulted in vegetation
and faunal communities more similar to the adjacent oldgrowth
areas it was deemed more successful. The hypotheses for
the study were:
H0: There is no significant difference between the vegetation
and faunal communities in the two rehabilitation treatment
areas but the old growth areas are significantly different.
Therefore, neither rehabilitation treatment is successful.
H1: There is no significant difference between the vegetation
and faunal communities in the two rehabilitation treatment
areas and the old growth areas. Therefore, neither rehabilitation
treatment is more successful.
H2: The vegetation and faunal communities in the KGBRP and
basic rehabilitation treatments are significantly different and