carbon sequestration in the coastal ocean. These budgets
show that cycling of carbon and other elements is in rough
balance in mangrove ecosystems, despite living in a harsh,
tropical environment.
Summary and conclusions
Mangroves occupy only about 0.5 % of the world’s
coastal area but contribute disproportionately in myriad
ways to the ecology and economy of tropical and subtropical coastal zones and their inhabitants. Mangrove forest
biomass and production are equivalent to tropical lowland
forests. Mangroves have evolved many morphological,
reproductive, and physiological traits for life in waterlogged saline soils, including aerial roots, viviparous
embryos, sclerophylly, low assimilation rates, high root/
shoot ratios, and high water- and nutrient-use efficiencies.
The forest structure is structurally simple compared with
their distant terrestrial relatives, often lacking an understory and having comparatively low tree diversity; species
richness is greatest in the Indo-West Pacific supporting the
notion that this is also the location of their origin during
the Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary. Tidal gradients in species composition are frequently expressed in relation to
combinations of tidal gradients in salinity, frequency of
tidal inundation, seed predation, competition, and other
drivers, the complex interplay of which leads to forest
mosaics of interrupted successional sequences. Trees and
bacteria account for most forest biomass, but rich pelagic,
arboreal, and benthic food webs consist of both terrestrial
and marine flora and fauna. Sesarmid and grapsid crabs
are foundational ecosystem engineers, although microbes
drive carbon and biogeochemical cycles. Mangroves are
among the most productive plants in the sea, being highly
efficient users of essential micro- and macronutrients.
While statistics for most countries are lacking, many
mangrove forests are no longer pristine, even in the most
remote locations. In the face of forecasted rises in sea
level, the pressures on mangroves worldwide are expected
to increase for the foreseeable future.
Bibliography
Alongi, D. M., 2008. Mangrove forests: resilience, protection from
tsunamis, and responses to global climate change. Estuarine,
Coastal and Shelf Science, 76, 1–13.
Alongi, D. M., 2009. The Energetics of Mangrove Forests.
Dordrecht: Springer Science.
Alongi, D. M., 2013. Cycling and global fluxes of nitrogen in mangroves. Global Environmental Research, 17, 69–78.
Alongi, D. M., 2014. Carbon cycling and storage in mangrove ecosystems. Annual Reviews in Marine Science, 6, 195–219.
Berger, U., Adams, M., Grimm, V., and Hildenbrandt, H., 2006.
Modelling secondary succession of neotropical mangroves:
causes and consequences of growth reduction in pioneer species.
Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 7,
243–252.
Blaber, S. J. M., 2002. ‘Fish in hot water’: the challenges facing fish
and fisheries in tropical estuaries. Journal of Fish Biology, 61,
1–20.
Bouillon, S., Borges, A. V., Castañeda-Moya, E., Diele, K., Dittmar,
T., Duke, N. C., Kristensen, E., Lee, S. Y., Marchand, C.,
Middelburg, J. J., Rivera-Monroy, V. H., Smith, T. J., III, and
Twilley, R. R., 2007. Mangrove production and carbon sinks:
a revision of global budget estimates. Global Biogeochemical
Cycles, 22, GB2013, doi:10.1029/2007GB003OS2.
Cannicci, S., Burrows, D., Fratini, S., Smith, T. J., III, Offenberg, J.,
and Dahdouh-Guebas, F., 2008. Faunal impact on vegetation
structure and ecosystem function in mangrove forests:
a review. Aquatic Botany, 89, 186–200.
Chapman, V. J., 1976. Mangrove Vegetation. Vaduz: J. Cramer.
Crase, B., Liedloff, A., Vesk, P. A., Burgman, M. A., and Wintle,
B. A., 2013. Hydroperiod is the main driver of the spatial pattern
of dominance in mangrove communities. Global Ecology and
Biogeography, 22, 806–817.
Daru, B. H., Yessoufou, K., Mankga, L. T., and Davies, T. J., 2013.
A global trend towards the loss of evolutionarily unique species
in mangrove ecosystems. PLoS ONE, 8, e66686, doi:10.3371/
journal.pone.0066686.
Duke, N. C., Ball, M. C., and Ellison, J. C., 1998. Factors influencing the biodiversity and distributional gradients in mangroves.
Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters, 7, 27–47.
Ellison, A. M., and Farnsworth, E. J., 2001. Mangrove communities. In Bertness, M. D., Gaines, S. D., and Hay, M. E. (eds.),
Marine Community Ecology. Sunderland: Sinauer, pp. 423–442.
Ellison, A. M., Farnsworth, E. J., and Twilley, R. R., 1996. Facultative mutualism between red mangroves and root-fouling
sponges. Ecology, 77, 2431–2444.
Ellison, A. M., Mukherjee, B. B., and Karim, A., 2000. Testing patterns of zonation in mangroves: scale dependence and environmental correlates in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh. Journal of
Ecology, 88, 813–824.
Faunce, C. H., and Serafy, J. E., 2006. Mangroves as fish habitat:
50 years of field studies. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 318,
1–18.
Feller, I. C., Lovelock, C. E., Berger, U., McKee, K. L., Joye, S. B.,
and Ball, M. C., 2010. Biocomplexity in mangrove ecosystems.
Annual Reviews in Marine Science, 2, 395–417.
Gatune, C., Vanreusel, A., Cnudde, C., Ruwa, R., Bossier, P., and
De Troch, M., 2012. Decomposing mangrove litter supports
a microbial biofilm with potential nutritive value to penaeid
shrimp post larvae. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology
and Ecology, 426(427), 28–38.
Giarrizzo, T., Schwamborn, R., and Saint-Paul, U., 2011. Utilization
of carbon sources in a northern Brazilian mangrove ecosystem.
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 95, 447–457.
Heald, E. J., 1969. The production of organic detritus in a South
Florida estuary. Ph.D Dissertation, University of Miami, Florida.
Hogarth, P. J., 2007. The Biology of Mangroves and Seagrasses,
2nd edn. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kathiresen, K., and Bingham, B. L., 2001. Biology of mangroves
and mangrove ecosystems. Advances in Marine Biology, 40,
81–251.
Kimirei, I. A., Nagelkerken, I., Mgaya, Y. D., and Huijbers, C. M.,
2013. The mangrove nursery paradigm revisited: Otolith stable
isotopes support nursery-to-reef movements by Indo-Pacific
fishes. PLoS ONE, 8, e66320, doi:10.1371/journal.
pone.0066320.
Krauss, K. M. W., Lovelock, C. E., McKee, K. L., Lopez-Hoffman,
L., Ewe, S. H. L., and Sousa, W. P., 2008. Environmental drivers
in mangrove establishment and early development: a review.
Aquatic Botany, 89, 105–127.
Kristensen, E., 2008. Mangrove crabs as ecosystem engineers; with
emphasis on sediment processes. Journal of Sea Research, 59,
30–43.
Lee, C.–. W., and Bong, C.–. W., 2007. Bacterial respiration,
growth efficiency, and protist grazing rates in mangrove waters
in Cape Rachado, Malaysia. Asian Journal of Water and Environmental Pollution, 4, 11–16.
MANGROVES
403
show that cycling of carbon and other elements is in rough
balance in mangrove ecosystems, despite living in a harsh,
tropical environment.
Summary and conclusions
Mangroves occupy only about 0.5 % of the world’s
coastal area but contribute disproportionately in myriad
ways to the ecology and economy of tropical and subtropical coastal zones and their inhabitants. Mangrove forest
biomass and production are equivalent to tropical lowland
forests. Mangroves have evolved many morphological,
reproductive, and physiological traits for life in waterlogged saline soils, including aerial roots, viviparous
embryos, sclerophylly, low assimilation rates, high root/
shoot ratios, and high water- and nutrient-use efficiencies.
The forest structure is structurally simple compared with
their distant terrestrial relatives, often lacking an understory and having comparatively low tree diversity; species
richness is greatest in the Indo-West Pacific supporting the
notion that this is also the location of their origin during
the Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary. Tidal gradients in species composition are frequently expressed in relation to
combinations of tidal gradients in salinity, frequency of
tidal inundation, seed predation, competition, and other
drivers, the complex interplay of which leads to forest
mosaics of interrupted successional sequences. Trees and
bacteria account for most forest biomass, but rich pelagic,
arboreal, and benthic food webs consist of both terrestrial
and marine flora and fauna. Sesarmid and grapsid crabs
are foundational ecosystem engineers, although microbes
drive carbon and biogeochemical cycles. Mangroves are
among the most productive plants in the sea, being highly
efficient users of essential micro- and macronutrients.
While statistics for most countries are lacking, many
mangrove forests are no longer pristine, even in the most
remote locations. In the face of forecasted rises in sea
level, the pressures on mangroves worldwide are expected
to increase for the foreseeable future.
Bibliography
Alongi, D. M., 2008. Mangrove forests: resilience, protection from
tsunamis, and responses to global climate change. Estuarine,
Coastal and Shelf Science, 76, 1–13.
Alongi, D. M., 2009. The Energetics of Mangrove Forests.
Dordrecht: Springer Science.
Alongi, D. M., 2013. Cycling and global fluxes of nitrogen in mangroves. Global Environmental Research, 17, 69–78.
Alongi, D. M., 2014. Carbon cycling and storage in mangrove ecosystems. Annual Reviews in Marine Science, 6, 195–219.
Berger, U., Adams, M., Grimm, V., and Hildenbrandt, H., 2006.
Modelling secondary succession of neotropical mangroves:
causes and consequences of growth reduction in pioneer species.
Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 7,
243–252.
Blaber, S. J. M., 2002. ‘Fish in hot water’: the challenges facing fish
and fisheries in tropical estuaries. Journal of Fish Biology, 61,
1–20.
Bouillon, S., Borges, A. V., Castañeda-Moya, E., Diele, K., Dittmar,
T., Duke, N. C., Kristensen, E., Lee, S. Y., Marchand, C.,
Middelburg, J. J., Rivera-Monroy, V. H., Smith, T. J., III, and
Twilley, R. R., 2007. Mangrove production and carbon sinks:
a revision of global budget estimates. Global Biogeochemical
Cycles, 22, GB2013, doi:10.1029/2007GB003OS2.
Cannicci, S., Burrows, D., Fratini, S., Smith, T. J., III, Offenberg, J.,
and Dahdouh-Guebas, F., 2008. Faunal impact on vegetation
structure and ecosystem function in mangrove forests:
a review. Aquatic Botany, 89, 186–200.
Chapman, V. J., 1976. Mangrove Vegetation. Vaduz: J. Cramer.
Crase, B., Liedloff, A., Vesk, P. A., Burgman, M. A., and Wintle,
B. A., 2013. Hydroperiod is the main driver of the spatial pattern
of dominance in mangrove communities. Global Ecology and
Biogeography, 22, 806–817.
Daru, B. H., Yessoufou, K., Mankga, L. T., and Davies, T. J., 2013.
A global trend towards the loss of evolutionarily unique species
in mangrove ecosystems. PLoS ONE, 8, e66686, doi:10.3371/
journal.pone.0066686.
Duke, N. C., Ball, M. C., and Ellison, J. C., 1998. Factors influencing the biodiversity and distributional gradients in mangroves.
Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters, 7, 27–47.
Ellison, A. M., and Farnsworth, E. J., 2001. Mangrove communities. In Bertness, M. D., Gaines, S. D., and Hay, M. E. (eds.),
Marine Community Ecology. Sunderland: Sinauer, pp. 423–442.
Ellison, A. M., Farnsworth, E. J., and Twilley, R. R., 1996. Facultative mutualism between red mangroves and root-fouling
sponges. Ecology, 77, 2431–2444.
Ellison, A. M., Mukherjee, B. B., and Karim, A., 2000. Testing patterns of zonation in mangroves: scale dependence and environmental correlates in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh. Journal of
Ecology, 88, 813–824.
Faunce, C. H., and Serafy, J. E., 2006. Mangroves as fish habitat:
50 years of field studies. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 318,
1–18.
Feller, I. C., Lovelock, C. E., Berger, U., McKee, K. L., Joye, S. B.,
and Ball, M. C., 2010. Biocomplexity in mangrove ecosystems.
Annual Reviews in Marine Science, 2, 395–417.
Gatune, C., Vanreusel, A., Cnudde, C., Ruwa, R., Bossier, P., and
De Troch, M., 2012. Decomposing mangrove litter supports
a microbial biofilm with potential nutritive value to penaeid
shrimp post larvae. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology
and Ecology, 426(427), 28–38.
Giarrizzo, T., Schwamborn, R., and Saint-Paul, U., 2011. Utilization
of carbon sources in a northern Brazilian mangrove ecosystem.
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 95, 447–457.
Heald, E. J., 1969. The production of organic detritus in a South
Florida estuary. Ph.D Dissertation, University of Miami, Florida.
Hogarth, P. J., 2007. The Biology of Mangroves and Seagrasses,
2nd edn. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kathiresen, K., and Bingham, B. L., 2001. Biology of mangroves
and mangrove ecosystems. Advances in Marine Biology, 40,
81–251.
Kimirei, I. A., Nagelkerken, I., Mgaya, Y. D., and Huijbers, C. M.,
2013. The mangrove nursery paradigm revisited: Otolith stable
isotopes support nursery-to-reef movements by Indo-Pacific
fishes. PLoS ONE, 8, e66320, doi:10.1371/journal.
pone.0066320.
Krauss, K. M. W., Lovelock, C. E., McKee, K. L., Lopez-Hoffman,
L., Ewe, S. H. L., and Sousa, W. P., 2008. Environmental drivers
in mangrove establishment and early development: a review.
Aquatic Botany, 89, 105–127.
Kristensen, E., 2008. Mangrove crabs as ecosystem engineers; with
emphasis on sediment processes. Journal of Sea Research, 59,
30–43.
Lee, C.–. W., and Bong, C.–. W., 2007. Bacterial respiration,
growth efficiency, and protist grazing rates in mangrove waters
in Cape Rachado, Malaysia. Asian Journal of Water and Environmental Pollution, 4, 11–16.
MANGROVES
403