2.1. Study site
Nansha mangrove (113133'00”E, 22139'14”N) was chosen as the study site with
an estimated area of 55 hm2 in Sanmin Island, South China (Fig. 1). This mangrove
was highly dominated by the introduced, mature, true mangrove plants Sonneratia
apetala (average height: 8 m; average diameter at breast height: 11.8 cm), which
were uniformly distributed with density of approximately 230 ind hm2
. Apart
from mangrove plants, sedge Cyperus malaccensis was ubiquitously distributed in
the open forest gap, while water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes was a rare species in
the study site.