James Gitundu Kairo,^* Farid Dahdouh-Guebas,^** Patrick O. Gwada,^*** Caroline Ochieng,^**** Nico Koedam<sup>*****


*</sup>James Gitundu Kairo received a MSc in botany from the University of Nairobi, Kenya and a PhD in sciences from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. He has been working at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute for more than 10 years, and is involved in mangrove regeneration and restoration projects for the Kenyan Forestry Department, Word Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), and many more. His address: Mangrove System Information Service, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), P.O. Box 81651, Mombasa, Kenya. jkairo@recoscix.org
^**Farid Dahdouh-Guebas holds an MSc biology, an MSc human ecology and a PhD sciences from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His previous and current research is on tropical coastal ecosystems and includes remote sensing of seagrass distributions, feeding ecology and behavioral ecology of mangrove crabs and ongoing research on mangrove vegetation structure dynamics (using very high resolution remote sensing) and biocomplexity (incl. human factors). His address: Laboratory of General Botany and Nature Management, Mangrove Management Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussel, Belgium. fdahdouh@vub.ac.be
^***Patrick O. Gwada is a senior research scientist at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Mombasa, as well as the Kenyan Coordinator of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Scientists Association (WIOMSA). He holds a MSc from the University of Ryukyus, Japan, where he specialized in mangrove research. He is currently involved in the coordination of the Seaweed Africa Project Underpinning Sustainable Ecosystem Management of Seaweed Resources in Africa, an EU research project aimed at expanding the applications of the Seaweed Database. His address: Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), P.O. Box 81651, Mombasa, Kenya. pgwada@recoscix.org
^****Caroline Ochieng has worked as a research officer at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute before moving to Thailand on a mangrove rehabiliation project. She is currently involved in an IUCN project on the environmental management of the River Rufiji Delta in Tanzania. Her address: Department of Botany, University of Dar-Es-Salaam, P.O. Box 35060, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania. aheronl@yahoo.com
^*****Nico Koedam was trained as a biologist and started physio-ecological research on temperate forest plants. Besides an ecology, biogeography and nature management teaching assignment, he is now heading the research unit General Botany and Nature Management of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, which has major ongoing vegetation research programs (remote sensing and field analysis) on Kenyan, Sri Lankan and Indian mangrove ecosystems (Indian Ocean); a smaller research program was initiated in Mauritanian mangroves (Atlantic Ocean). His address: Laboratory of General Botany and Nature Management, Mangrove Management Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussel, Belgium. nikoedam@vub.ac.be