The identification of species within an ecosystem plays a key role in formulating an inventory for use in the development of conservation management plans. The classification of mangrove species typically involves intensive field surveys, whereas remote sensing techniques represent a cost-efficient means of mapping and monitoring mangrove forests at large scales. However, the coarse spectral re...

[1] Arboreal termites are wood decaying organisms that play an important role in the first stages of C cycling in mangrove systems. The chemical composition of Rhizophora mangle, Avicennia germinans, and Laguncularia racemosa leaf, stem, and pneumatophore tissues as well as associated sediments was compared to that of nests of the termite Nasutitermes acajutlae. Nests gave C values of 26.1 to 2...

The mangroves of the Rufiji Delta are an important habitat and resource. The mangrove forest reserve is home to an indigenous population and has been under pressure from an influx of migrants from the landward side of the delta. Timely and effective forest management is needed to preserve the delta and mangrove forest. Here, we investigate the potential of polarimetric target decomposition for ...

In this paper we estimate the living carbon lost from Ecuador's mangrove forests since the advent of export-focused shrimp aquaculture. We use remote sensing techniques to delineate the extent of mangroves and aquaculture at approximately decadal periods since the arrival of aquaculture in each Ecuadorian estuary. We then spatiotemporally calculate the carbon values of the mangrove forests and ...

Sesarmid crabs are important ecosystem engineers in mangroves because they remove a large proportion of mangrove leaf litter. However, the effects on mangrove sediments of sesarmid crab foraging on mangrove leaves has been poorly quantified. Through a laboratory experiment, the present study aimed to quantify changes in nutrient concentrations and enzyme activities in mangrove sediment due to f...

The importance of mangrove forests in carbon sequestration and coastal protection has been widely acknowledged. Large-scale damage of these forests, caused by hurricanes or clear felling, can enhance vulnerability to erosion, subsidence and rapid carbon losses. However, it is unclear how small-scale logging might impact on mangrove functions and services. We experimentally investigated the impa...

Mangroves are traditionally considered to provide important nutrition to tropical estuarine consumers. However, there is still controversy about this, and the extent and importance of these inputs are largely unquantified. In particular, there is no information for food webs of small estuaries that dominate wet–dry tropical coasts, where freshwater inflow is intermittent, leading to highly seas...

Brunei Bay, which receives freshwater discharge from four major rivers, namely Limbang, Sundar, Weston and Menumbok, hosts a luxuriant mangrove cover in East Malaysia. However, this relatively undisturbed mangrove forest has been less scientifically explored, especially in terms of vegetation structure, ecosystem services and functioning, and land-use/cover changes. In the present study, mangro...