Structure, litter fall, decomposition, and detritus dynamics of mangroves in a Mexican coastal lagoon with an ephemeral inlet

Abstract

Dynamics of litter fall, decomposition, litter transport, and forest structure of white mangroves Laguncularia racemosa Gaertn were studied in a small coastal lagoon on the Pacific coast of Mexico from June 1979 until October 1981. The lagoon is characterized by an ephemeral inlet which is open to the ocean for 3 to 4 mo per year during the wet season. Total litter fall was 1100 g dw m-' yr.'. Leaf decomposition was much more rapid in litter bags placed in the water (0.26 mo-') than in bags placed on the dry forest floor (0.05 mo-'). Experimental 20 g (dw) samples of leaves placed on the forest floor were flushed out after the opening of the lagoon inlet. We estimate that almost 90 % of total litter fall was exported from the mangroves to the lagoon waters and that most of this was flushed to the ocean. This is due to a number of factors. htter decomposition on the dry forest floor is very slow, peak litter fall occurs just before the onset of the rainy season, and the rapid outflow of accumulated water when the inlet opens flushes almost all accumulated detritus from the forest floor and lagoon sediments. Structural, productivity, and litter transport patterns of this system suggest that mangrove forests in lagoons with ephemeral Inlets do not fit well into existing classification schemes.

Growth of three subtropical mangrove species in response to varying hydroperiod in an experimental tank

“…A la cuarta semana de la recolecta, el riego se realizó con agua salobre a 5 de salinidad. Luego, la salinidad del agua se fue incrementando progresivamente a 15, la salinidad óptima para el desarrollo de estas tres especies (Flores-Verdugo et al 1987, Khan y Aziz 2001). El crecimiento de las plántulas fue cuantificado mediante ecuaciones lineales como el cambio en la altura de la planta respecto al tiempo transcurrido.…”

“…Mangrove forests are important because they have the ability to improve ecological aspects such as organic carbon dynamics (Flores-Verdugo et al 1987, Bashan and Holguin 2002, Kristensen et al 2008) and primary productivity (Holguin et al 2001, Dittmar et al 2006, and they provide protection against hurricanes and tropical storms (Raven et al 1992, Gilman et al 2008, Komiyama et al 2008. Despite their ecological importance, mangrove forests around the world are constantly exposed to anthropogenic disturbances such as port development in the coastal zone, expansion of the agricultural frontier, and aquaculture expansion (Duke et al 2007, Polidoro et al 2010, Spalding et al 2010.…”

Coastal landforms and accumulation of mangrove peat increase carbon sequestration and storage

“…(D) Rhizophora mudflat at La Encrucijada (illustration based on our own field observations and compared with descriptions from ref. 16). …”

Examining the Influence of Seasonality, Condition, and Species Composition on Mangrove Leaf Pigment Contents and Laboratory Based Spectroscopy Data

“…These forests provide a variety of environmental functions such as a nursery habitat for both terrestrial and marine fauna; they act as a natural barrier against tropical storms and hurricanes; and are an important resource for local communities [3]. Mangrove forests are also extremely important contributors to global organic carbon dynamics [4][5][6], to primary productivity [7,8], for nutrient recycling [5,9], and can help to mitigate climate change impacts [10]. Despite their ecological relevance, mangrove forests are under considerable degradation due to anthropogenic perturbations including aquaculture expansion [11,12].…”