quite extensive in the southeastern part of the Ca Mau Peninsula and along the mainland
margins of the estuaries (Figure 1B). Mangroves are typically
distributed from mean sea level (MSL) to highest spring tide
(Alongi, 2009; Hogart, 1999), since below MSL the seedlings
cannot settle and at higher levels the mangroves cannot
compete with other plants (Schiereck and Booij, 1995). A
succession of mangroves in the Mekong Delta is roughly
described by three stages (Phan and Hoang, 1993):