The importance and protection of mangrove ecosystems has been recognized in Brazilian Federal law since 1965. Being protected in law, however, has not always guaranteed their protection in practice. Mangroves are found in coastal and estuarine locations, which are prime real estate for the growth of cities, ports and other economic activities important for Brazilian development. In this mini-re...

Globally threatened mangrove forest habitat is often considered an important buffer protecting coastlines from wave and storm impacts and coastal erosion. However, there is little empirical data quantifying the protective effects of mangroves during storms, primarily because of the difficulty of predicting where and when a storm will intersect the shoreline, to facilitate data collection before...

Changes in lipid content and fatty acid (FA) composition in decomposing mangrove leaves of Bruguiera gymnorrhiza (L.) Lamk and Kandelia candel (L.) were investigated in a subtropical mangrove forest on Okinawa Island, Japan (26.5°N, 128°E) by field experiments for 18 wk (July to November 2000), using yellow senescent leaves, and compared with FAs in the green leaves and mangrove sediments. We t...

Visual image interpretation and digital image classification have been used to map and monitor mangrove extent and composition for decades. The presence of a high-spatial resolution hyperspectral sensor can potentially improve our ability to differentiate mangrove species. However, little research has explored the use of pixel-based and object-based approaches on high-spatial hyperspectral data...

INTRODUCTION AND SETTING The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is comprised of a number of islands in the northern Caribbean, including the island of Puerto Rico and offshore islands such as Culebra, Vieques, Monito, and Desecheo (Figure 3.1). The following information adds to the comprehensive overview of Puertorrican reefs provided in the previous edition of this report (García-Sais et al., 2005). ...

This essay addresses the conservation issues facing mangroves in the Anthropocene, defined as the era of human domination over the world. We review the laws, policies, international agreements, and local actions that address the conservation of mangrove forests in the Neotropics and relate them to the Anthropocene. Collaboration between governments, non-governmental organizations, and communiti...

Here we embark in a deep metagenomic survey that revealed the taxonomic and potential metabolic pathways aspects of mangrove sediment microbiology. The extraction of DNA from sediment samples and the direct application of pyrosequencing resulted in approximately 215 Mb of data from four distinct mangrove areas (BrMgv01 to 04) in Brazil. The taxonomic approaches applied revealed the dominance of...

The mangrove biome stands out as a distinct forest type at the interface between terrestrial, estuarine, and near-shore marine ecosystems. However, mangrove species are increasingly threatened and experiencing range contraction across the globe that requires urgent conservation action. Here, we assess the spatial distribution of mangrove species richness and evolutionary diversity, and evaluate...

EXTENSIVE INVESTIGATIONS of the ecological relationships of soil microfungi with soil types, pH, moisture, horizon, temperature, and macrovegetation have been published (Parkinson and Waid, 1960; Alexander, 1961; and Burges and Raw, 1967). It is a well-established principle that soil fungi are influenced by specific soil environments. Mangroves occupy a littoral habitat, characterized almost in...

Mangroves dwell at the land-ocean interface and are thus encroached upon by competing land use at the coastal zone. They are also subject to impacts from catchments developments. As a result, mangroves worldwide are having their extension changed (Spalding et al, 1997). Worldwide it is well accepted that mangrove extension is decreasing mostly due to conversion to other uses, in particular aqua...