MANGROVES OR MANGAL “Rainforest by the Sea” Associations of halophytic trees, shrubs or other plants growing in brackish to saline water Found on tropical and subtropical coastlines Inundated daily with sea water but protected from heavy waves Limited by frost

ADAPTATIONS Salinity Control – salt exclusion or secretion Viviparous seedlings Prop roots and pneumatophores

SALINITY Facultative halophytes – found over a wide range of salinity; 10-60 ppt Competitive advantage over freshwater species Survive wide annual fluctuations

MANGROVE COMMUNITY TYPES Fringe Mangroves Overwash island Shoreline

Red Mangrove, Mangle Rojo Rhizophora mangle Red Mangrove, Mangle Rojo Opposite, evergreen leaves & white flowers Prop roots – grounded and ungrounded Viviparous

Black mangrove, Mangle negro Avicennia germinans Black mangrove, Mangle negro Opposite, leathery leaves; yellowish to dark green above, downy beneath with salt glands pneumatophores

Laguncularia racemosa White mangrove, Mangle blanco Leathery, opposite leaves with rounded tips and 2 salt glands on petiole

Conocarpus erectus Buttonwood, Mangle de botón Leaves alternate, elliptical, with a row of salt glands along the rachis

ZONATION MHW Conocarpus erectus Laguncularia racemosa Avicennia germinans Rhizophora mangle

SUCCESSION Peat accumulation balanced by tidal export, fire and hurricanes Advance and retreat of zones according to the fall or rise of sea level Stressed or youthful ecosystems Slowed or arrested succession Low diversity Open nutrient cycles

FACTORS CONTROLLING PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY Tides and water chemistry intertwined Transport of oxygen to roots Removal of toxins and salt from pore water Control of sediment accumulation Regeneration of nutrients lost from root zone Water chemistry alone Pore water salinity Concentration of nutrients

ORGANIC EXPORT 50% of productivity exported as detritus May supply as much as 52% of the fixed carbon available for secondary productivity Detritus primary food source to invertebrates and forage fish

ANIMALS ASSOCIATED WITH RED MANGROVE PROP ROOTS Roots provide nursery areas and solid substrate Proximity to and extent of exchange between coastal waters, especially coral reefs Presence or absence of algae Tidal amplitude Competitive interactions Predation, particularly intraguild predation http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/html/tropecoimages.html#Anchor-mangroves

GENERAL FAUNAL TYPES Adjacent to coral reefs, e.g. Carrie Bow Cay, Belize Sponges, tunicates, hydroids, anemones, polychaetes Isolated from reefs Isopods, barnacles, molluscs, algae, amphipods

Laguna Boca Paila Water very clear Bottom either covered with Halodule wrightii, Ruppia sp., or leaf litter, otherwise sand/shell Tree heights 10-22 ft. Protected embayment with only a small inlet to Caribbean

ABUNDANCES OF HIGHER TAXA Isopod 6% Tanaid 4% Amphipod Bivalves 86% 3% Polychaete 1%

DOMINANT SPECIES Amphipods Isopods Algae Hyale plumulosa Ericthonius brasiliensis Parhyale fascigera Isopods Sphaeroma terebrans Algae Polysiphonia sp. Anotrichium tenue Bostrychia montagnei Batophora oerstiddi

EFFECTS OF ALGAE

ALGAE-DOMINATED ROOT Many small, motile invertebrates, especially amphipods Low diversity High abundance

BARE ROOTS Boring isopods & bivalves Balanoid barnacles Low diversity Low abundance

LAGUNA BOCA PAILA: PROPOSED FOOD WEB FOR R. MANGLE PROP ROOT COMMUNITY Detritus Green algae Vaunthompsonia minor Cyclaspis sp. Phytoplankton Primary producer Mugil cephalus Pachygrapsus gracilis Hyale plumulosa Ericthonius brasiliensis Nereis pelagica Mytilopsis leucophaeata Ischadium recurvum Nodolittorina lineolata Littoraria angulifera Cassidinidea ovalis Cyathura cubana Copepods Ostracods Nematode Macrobranchium acanthurus Palaemonetes vulgaris Bathygobius mystacium Gobiosoma bosc Lutjanus apodus Callinectes portunus Concrete relationship Sphoeroides testudinus Inferred relationship Eleotris pisonis Sphyraena barracuda Terminal carnivore

INTRAGUILD PREDATION Common in communities with many interference competitors Typical in mangrove prop root communities Defined as killing and eating of competitors Interference competitors at Laguna Boca Paila: Lutjanus-Callinectes Sphyraena-Lutjanus Palaemonetes-Bathygobius

BIRDS

FISH

IMPORTANCE TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES Traditionally managed by local communities Food, medicine, tannins, fuel wood, construction materials Sustainable, dependable, cultural Minimize property damage & deaths due to tropical weather Useful for treating effluent

CONSERVATION ISSUES Among the most threatened habitats in the world Coastal development may result in long-term exposure or flooding Timber & charcoal industries Expanding shrimp aquaculture Considered wastelands or useless swamps