Zimmer, Martin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1549-8871 (2022) Mangrove Forests: Structure, Diversity, Ecosystem Processes and Threats. In: Encyclopedia of Inland Waters. , ed. by Mehner, Thomas and Tockner, Klement. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 116-127. ISBN 978-0-12-819166-8 DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-819166-8.00149-3.

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Abstract

Mangrove forests grow on soft sediments of tropical and subtropical coasts, along sheltered coastlines, bays and lagoons, or estuaries. While exposed rocky shores do not provide suitable habitats for mangroves, mangrove trees can settle in crevices of consolidated beach platforms (if wave exposure is not too extreme) or on backreefs, potentially acting as cores of mangrove stand establishment. Mangrove forests are composed of tree species that can form dense monospecific or multi-species stands in the upper intertidal zone with its harsh conditions of anoxic sediments and regular inundation with seawater. While several dozens of species are known from the Indo-West Pacific region (IWP), the Atlantic-East Pacific region (AEP) is home to only a mere dozen of true mangrove species, most of which are rare. These two realms have only one species, the Golden mangrove fern Acrostichum aureum, in common.
Over the past years, mangroves gained increasing attention by both the public worldwide and policy- and decision-makers in tropical coastal countries, because of both their stunning beauty and the numerous ecosystem services they provide to local societies and to humankind worldwide. On regional scales, individual stakeholders and entire societies of tropical coasts depend on natural resources from mangroves for their livelihood and wellbeing, and rely on mangroves to protect their coasts and homes from erosion and storm damage. Globally, mangroves contribute significantly to climate change-mitigation through storing vast amounts of greenhouse gases in their biomass and, even more so, in their anoxic and saline sediments.
Despite this growing recognition of their relevance, our understanding of many details of mangrove ecology is still in its infancy. For instance, detailed studies on the relevance of biodiversity or biotic interactions for ecosystem processes that underlie ecosystem services have been undertaken only rather recently. Even more so, functional traits of mangrove trees and other members of the forest community, along with their ecological importance, have been studied rarely this far. Responses to environmental change und predictions of the future distribution of mangrove forests, their inhabitants, or their ecosystem services under climate change are still essentially unknown.
Notwithstanding their importance as providers of ecosystem services that drive the wellbeing and livelihood of individual stakeholders and entire coastal societies in the tropics, mangroves have encountered severe anthropogenic disturbances and drastic losses of their area and extension over the last decades. Both research that aims at mechanistic understanding of ecosystem processes of mangroves and effective and efficient measures of their protection are pivotal for ensuring their sustainable use and management. Where mangroves have been lost, regional societies and governments, as well as humankind worldwide, should invest in re-implementing them and expanding their area, if, when and where possible and reasonable. The numerous previous failures in trying to do so emphasize the need in (novel) approaches to assisted mangrove establishment.

Document Type:	Book chapter
Programme Area:	PA4
Research affiliation:	Ecology > Mangrove Ecology
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-819166-8.00149-3
Date Deposited:	25 Feb 2026 09:22
Last Modified:	25 Feb 2026 09:22
URI:	https://cris.leibniz-zmt.de/id/eprint/6118

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