Vascular plant resources' contribution to the Vam Ho Bird Sanctuary and surrounding areas' designation as a Natural Heritage Site
,
and
Article Sidebar
Full Text: 
PDF
Main Article Content
Abstract
The survey of plant diversity and vegetation identified in Vam Ho Bird Sanctuary and surrounding areas (Ba Tri and Binh Dai districts, Ben Tre province) was performed in October 2024. The study aimed to build the plant diversity basics for investing and upgrading Vam Ho to the status of a Natural Heritage site. Apply transect survey and sampling, the study recorded 179 species, belonging to 55 vascular plants. Among them, Azima sarmentosa, Oryza rufipogon, Psilotum nudum were listed in the Vietnam Red Book, Avicennia marina var. rumphiana, Phoenix paludosa, Sonneratia ovata, Ceriops decandra were on the IUCN Red List. In addition, a total of 155 out of 179 recorded species has belonged to at least one of six main use groups, medicine, food, animal/poultry feed, ornamental plants, timber/charcoal/construction materials, and household items/handicrafts. The vegetation was divided into three types, including the natural habitat in Vam Ho Bird Sanctuary, Casuarina equisetifolia coastal plantation and estuarine-coastal mangrove forests. The establishment of the Natural Heritage Site there would create the positive conditions for the activities of the habitat conservation (including waterbird) and coastal protection, which help to reduce the pressure of the environmental degradation for the Ba Lai estuary in the near future.
Article Details
Conflict of Interest
© 2026 The authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
References
Asaeda, T., Barnuevo, A., Sanjaya, K., Fortes, M. D., Kanesaka, Y., & Wolanski, E. (2016). Mangrove plantation over a limestone reef – Good for the ecology? Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 173, 57–64. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2016.02.017
Bijeesh, V. K., & Ngo, X. Q. (2018). Environmental changes near the Mekong Delta in Vietnam using remote sensing. Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali, 29(3), 639–647. doi.org/10.1007/s12210-018-0695-6
Giesen, W., Wulffraat, S., Zieren, M., & Scholten, L. (2007). Mangrove guidebook for Southeast Asia. FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
Karimi, Z., Abdi, E., Deljouei, A., Cislaghi, A., Shirvany, A., Schwarz, M., & Hales, T. C. (2022). Vegetation-induced soil stabilization in coastal area: An example from a natural mangrove forest. Catena, 216, 106410. doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2022.106410
Kozhikkodan, V. B., Ngo, X. Q., Nguyen, T. K. D., Duong, Q. B., Tran, X. L., & Hoang, N. D. (2022). Mangrove forest degradation and shoreline erosion in the Mekong delta: a case study from Ben Tre province. Vietnam Journal of Science and Technology, 60(5), 825–836. doi.org/10.15625/2525-2518/16555
Macintosh, D. J., Ashton, E. C., & Havanon, S. (2002). Mangrove Rehabilitation and Intertidal Biodiversity: A study in the Ranong Mangrove Ecosystem, Thailand. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 55(3), 331–345. doi.org/10.1006/ecss.2001.0896
Le, T. C. (editor), Tran, T., Nguyen, H. T., Huynh, N., Dao, T. P., Tran, T. V. (1999). Some basic characteristics of Vietnam’s Flora. Science and Technology Publisher.
Nguyen, T. P., & Parnell, K. E. (2019). Coastal land use planning in Ben Tre, Vietnam: constraints and recommendations. Heliyon, 5(4), e01487. doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01487
Pham, H. H. (2003). Cây cỏ Việt Nam - An Illustrated Flora of Vietnam: Vols. I, II, III. Tre Publisher.
Phung, T. N., & Chau, Q. H. (1987). Flooded forests in Vietnam (Rừng ngập nước ở Việt Nam). Education Publisher.
Sackey, I., Kpikpi, W. M., & Imoro, A. W. M. (2011). Ecological studies in the Iture estuary mangrove forest in Ghana. Journal of the Ghana Science Association, 13(2), 37–44.
Sunkur, R., Kantamaneni, K., Bokhoree, C., & Ravan, S. (2023). Mangroves’ role in supporting ecosystem-based techniques to reduce disaster risk and adapt to climate change: A review. J. Sea Res, 196,102449. doi.org/10.1016/j.seares.2023.102449
Thai, V. T. (1998). The Tropical Forest Ecosystem in Vietnam. Science and Technics Publisher.
Tran, T. A., Tran, H. Van, Pittock, J., & Cook, B. (2022). Political ecology of freshening the Mekong’s coastal delta: narratives of place-based land-use dynamics. Journal of Land Use Science, 17(1), 471–486. doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2022.2126907
Truong, S. H., Ye, Q., & Stive, M. J. F. (2017). Estuarine Mangrove Squeeze in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. J. Coast. Res, 33(4), 747–763. doi.org/10.2112/jcoastres-d-16-00087.1
Veettil, B. K., Quang, N. X., & Thu Trang, N. T. (2019). Changes in mangrove vegetation, aquaculture and paddy cultivation in the Mekong Delta: A study from Ben Tre Province, southern Vietnam. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 226, 106273. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2019.106273