**5. Conclusion**

*Habitats of the World - Biodiversity and Threats*

The protection of mangrove forest should follow the principles of reserve

*(a) RGB imagery of mosaicked mangrove forest at Eagle Island, Niger Delta Nigeria (Source: [20]). (b) Mosaicked image of mangrove forest that has been processed with visible atmospherically resistance index (VARI) to show areas of stress caused by Nypa palms and depicted by red and yellow color (Source: [20]).*

1.Protection of entire habitats because the more the protected habitat the better

2.Avoidance of reserve fragmentation by anthropogenic activities such as con-

3.Clumped reserve is far better than linear for easy migration of species within

In terms of size, the bigger the terrain the better for the proliferation of species. According to the species-area relationship, bigger reserve has more resource, greater population with greater biodiversity leading to lower probability of extinction [21]. This is because small populations are prone to more extinction of species than large populations. Similarly, rather than have one large reserve it is good to

struction of high ways through mangrove forest.

4.Circular reserve is ideal to minimize edge effects.

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design such as:

**Figure 6.**

it is.

the mangrove forests

Habitat loss and conversion are two major problems that can lead to the extinction of mangrove forest in the Niger Delta if not checked. This is because one or two stands of mangrove forest, which is made up of at least 5–10 trees are lost daily from this region as a result of deforestation for firewood (i.e., logging), sand dredging, urban development (e.g., roads, building of houses), etc. As the mangroves are brought down, their positions are quickly taken over by human structures such as roads, houses, industrial complexes and crude oil platforms. Areas that have not undergone infrastructural development, but have been disturbed by human actions contain scanty forests that become vulnerable to environmental pressures from invasive species, which had already completely taken over 60% of mangrove forest in the Niger Delta. Urgently, it is important to embark on deliberate protective measures, which can prevent the exploitation and plundering of the remaining mangroves resources in the zone.
