1. Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry, April 2006, ver. 2.1
Rhizophora mangle, R. samoensis, R. racemosa, R. ×harrisonii (Atlantic–East Pacific red mangrove)
Norman C. Duke and James A. Allen
This article says, in part, “The species R. mangle has unfortunately now taken on the public status of invasive weed and pest species in Hawai‘i. To alleviate public concern, eradication efforts have been carried out in several locations on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i. It is not clear about the success or effectiveness of this campaign, as it appears to have been based on subjective information and no monitoring.”
www.traditionaltree.org
2. Paradigm Shifts in Mangrove Biology
Daniel M. Along
Coastal Wetlands: An Integrated Ecosystem Approach
This article says, in part, “Living between land and sea, it is not surprising that both terrestrial and aquatic species colonize and live in mangrove trees, soils, and waters nor it is surprising that these
tidal forests are a valuable economic and ecological resource. Mangroves are important nursery grounds and breeding sites for fish, birds, mammals, crustaceans, reptiles, and shellfish and are a renewable source of wood and food for many indigenous settlements. They are also accumulation sites for sediment, nutrients, and other elements, including contaminants, and offer some protection against
coastal erosion.”
http://www.mangroverestoration.com/downloads/Alongi%202009%20Chap%2022%20Paridigm%20shifts%20in%20mangrove%20biology.pdf
3.
Trees of Life
Corals are thriving in a unique habitat.
By
Charles Schmidt
This article says, in part, “(Mangrove) Trees might provide shade protection, or it’s possible that mangrove ecosystems somehow resist ocean acidification, which degrades the calcium carbonate skeletons that corals deposit to build reef structures.
The unique habitat may benefit more than corals. Fish biomass near shores more than doubles when reef and mangrove ecosystems are connected, one study shows. And the mangroves might also be replenishing offshore reefs, which are generally in need of healthy new coral larvae.”
http://audubonmagazine.org/fieldnotes/fieldnotes1101-marinelife.html
4. Mangrove Action Project: Learn About Mangroves
The
provision of habitat for aquatic and terrestrial fauna and flora
cannot be overlooked.
75% of all tropical commercial fish
species pass part of their lives in the mangroves, where they
encounter:
nursery grounds
shelter
food
Other ecosystem services provided by mangroves include:
protection from strong winds & waves;
Mangroves’ protective buffer zone helps shield coastlines from storm damage and wave action, minimizing damage to property and losses of life from hurricanes and storms.
soil stabilization & erosion protection;
The stability mangroves provide is essential for preventing shoreline erosion. By acting as buffers catching materials washed downstream, they help stabilize land elevation by sediment accretion, thereby balancing sediment loss. In regions where these coastal fringe forests have been cleared, tremendous problems of erosion and siltation have arisen.
nutrient retention and water quality improvement through filtration of sediments and pollutants;
Mangroves have been useful in treating effluent, as the plants absorb excess nitrates and phosphates, thereby preventing contamination of nearshore waters.
flood mitigation;
sequestration of carbon dioxide;
Mangroves absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon in their sediments, thereby lessening the impacts of global warming; and
protection of associated marine ecosystems
Sea grass beds and coral reefs depend on healthy mangroves to filter sediments and provide nursery grounds for resident species.”
http://mangroveactionproject.org/mangroves
5. Pacific Island Mangroves in a Changing Climate and Rising Sea
United Nations UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 179, 2006
By: Eric Gilman, Hanneke Van Lavieren, Joanna Ellison, Vainuupo Jungblut, Lisette Wilson, Francis Areki, Genevieve Brighouse, John Bungitak, Eunice Dus, Marion Henry, Mandes Kilman, Elizabeth Matthews, Ierupaala Sauni Jr., Nenenteiti Teariki-Ruatu, Sione Tukia, Kathy Yuknavage
This
article says, in part, “Pacific Island governments have
recognized the value of mangroves and the need to augment
conservation efforts (e.g. South Pacific Regional Environment
Programme, 1999a). The Pacific Islands contain roughly 3% of the
global mangrove area, a small area in global terms, but each island
group has a unique mangrove community structure (Ellison, 2000) and
mangroves provide site-specific functions and values (e.g., Gilman,
1998; Lewis, 1992). Reduced mangrove area and health will increase
the threat to human safety and shoreline development from coastal
hazards such as erosion, flooding, and storm waves and surges.
Mangrove loss will also decrease coastal water quality, reduce biodiversity, eliminate fish and crustacean nursery habitat, adversely affect adjacent coastal habitats, and eliminate a major resource for human communities that traditionally rely on mangroves for numerous products and services (Ewel, 1997; Ewel et al., 1998; Mumby et al., 2004; Victor et al., 2004). Furthermore, mangrove destruction can release large quantities of stored carbon and exacerbate global warming trends (Kauppi et al., 2001; Ramsar Secretariat, 2001; Chmura et al., 2003).”
http://www.unep.org/PDF/mangrove-report.pdf
6. An Introduction and User’s Guide to
Wetland Restoration, Creation, and Enhancement
A Guide for the Public Containing:
• Background on wetlands and restoration
• Information on project planning, implementation, and monitoring
•
Lists of resources,
contacts, and funding sources
Developed by the Interagency
Workgroup on Wetland Restoration:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency,
Army Corps of Engineers, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Natural Resources Conservation Service
“Over
the past 200 years, more than 50 percent of the wetlands in the
coterminous U.S. have
been lost and many of the remaining wetlands are degraded. These losses and alterations compromise
the important benefits provided by wetlands including protecting water quality, providing habitat for a
wide variety of plants and animals, and reducing flood damage. While preserving remaining wetland
resources is critical to our nation’s environmental health, restoring wetlands also is essential to ensuring the quality of aquatic systems. Because wetlands are so important to the earth’s ecosystems and human society, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS), and Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) worked together to develop this document designed
for people wishing to support or undertake wetland recovery projects.”
http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/pdf/restdocfinal.pdf
7. Mangrove forests in worldwide decline
This article says, in part, “More than one in six mangrove species worldwide are in danger of extinction due to coastal development and other factors, including climate change, logging and agriculture, according to the first-ever global assessment on the conservation status of mangroves for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™.”
“Mangroves are vital to coastal communities as they protect them from damage caused by tsunami waves, erosion and storms, and serve as a nursery for fish and other species that support coastal livelihoods. In addition, they have a staggering ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, and serve as both a source and repository for nutrients and sediments for other inshore marine habitats, such as seagrass beds and coral reefs.”
http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/science_learning/?5025/Mangrove-forests-in-worldwide-decline
8. PROTECTIVE VALUES OF MANGROVE AND CORAL ECOSYSTEMS: A review of methods and evidence Jo Chong
“Mangrove and coral ecosystems have many values. Providing habitats for a wide range of species,
coastal ecosystems are a source of food, medicines, and forestry products. In many regions, the tourism
and recreational value of coastal ecosystems is significant, and if this value is realised can contribute
significantly to financing the management of the ecosystems for local communities.
In addition to these direct-use values, mangrove and coral ecosystem functions also indirectly support
economic activity – for example through nutrient recycling, water purification, and flood control. One
key indirect value is the protective function of coastal ecosystems against wave and storm energy, both
in terms of ongoing coastal erosion and from potentially destructive cyclones or typhoons. However,
decision-makers often undervalue these shoreline protection services (Burke 2004).”
http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/pr_values_mangrove_coral_ecosystems_methods_evidence.pdf
9. The Pacific Mangrove Initiative (PMI)
This article says, in part, “Risk management in the context of climate change has become a key priority for coastal populations. The large majority of Pacific islanders live by the sea and are highly dependent on coastal ecosystems, including mangroves and coral reefs.
The Pacific Mangrove Initiative will promote sustainable management of mangroves and coastal ecosystems, raise awareness of the value of coastal ecosystem goods and services, including enhanced resilience to climate change and natural disasters (including tsunami and cyclones) and build capacity at all levels to make informed decisions.”
http://www.iucn.org/about/union/secretariat/offices/oceania/oro_programmes/oro_initiatives_pmi/
10. Mangroves, Hurricanes, and Tsunamis
Roy R. Lewis III.
This article says, in part, “The December 26th tsumani has brought to the public's attention the role mangroves play in reducing storm surge associated with hurricanes and tsunamis. Following this disaster, there have been various reports of certain areas being protected from damage by a “greenbelt” of mangroves.”
http://mangroveactionproject.org/files/resources/Lewis%202005%20Mangroves,%20hurricanes%20and%20tsunamis.pdf
11. NATURE | VOL 427 | 5 FEBRUARY 2004
Mangroves enhance the biomass of coral reef communities in the Caribbean
Peter J. Mumby, Alasdair J. Edwards, J. Ernesto Arias-Gonza´ lez, Kenyon C. Lindeman, Paul G. Blackwell, Angela Gall, Malgosia I. Gorczynska, Alastair R. Harborne, Claire L. Pescod, Henk Renken, Colette C. C. Wabnitz & Ghislane Llewellyn
This article says, in part, “Mangrove forests are one of the world’s most threatened tropical
ecosystems with global loss exceeding 35%(ref. 1). Juvenile coral reef fish often inhabit mangroves, but the importance of these nurseries to reef fish population dynamics has not been quantified. Indeed, mangroves might be expected to have negligible influence on reef fish communities: juvenile fish can inhabit alternative habitats and fish populations may be regulated by other limiting factors such as larval supply or fishing. Here we show that mangroves are unexpectedly important, serving as an
intermediate nursery habitat that may increase the survivorship of young fish. Mangroves in the Caribbean strongly influence the community structure of fish on neighbouring coral reefs. In
addition, the biomass of several commercially important species is more than doubled when adult habitat is connected to mangroves. The largest herbivorous fish in the Atlantic, Scarus guacamaia, has a functional dependency on mangroves and has suffered local extinction after mangrove removal. Current rates of mangrove deforestation are likely to have severe deleterious consequences for the ecosystem function, fisheries productivity and resilience of reefs. Conservation efforts should protect
connected corridors of mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs.”
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/tcmweb/tmr/nature_427_mumby_et_al.pdf
12. Corals and Mangroves in the Front Line
Economic Case for Conservation of Corals and Mangroves Made in New UN Environment Report
This article says, in part, “The economic value and life saving function of coral reefs and mangroves is brought into sharp focus in a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The report underlines the vital role these natural features play in tourism, stemming coastal erosion and acting as nurseries for fish including those in the multi-million dollar aquaria trade.
The report recognises that corals and mangroves absorb up to 90 per cent of the energy of wind-generated waves.
It is also underlines that conserving them is a small price to pay when set against the costs of destroying them or substituting their role with man-made structures.”
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=466&ArticleID=5112&l=en
13. Thematic paper: Synthesis of the protective functions of coastal forests and trees against natural hazards
Eric Wolanski
This article says, in part, “This paper argues that coastal forests and mangroves need to be restored and even created to enhance the capacity of estuaries and coastal waters to provide ecological services to the human population living on their shores. Further, coastal forests and mangroves protect the coast from wind damage, salt spray, coastal erosion, typhoons, and can even save human lives during a tsunami...Bioshields, including mangroves, provide important ecohydrological services such as creating self-scoured navigable channels, sheltering coastal seagrass beds and coral reefs from excess sedimentation, and enhancing fishery capacity; these are all resources that human populations living along tropical estuaries and coasts rely on for their livelihoods and quality of life.”
http://www.fao.org/forestry/13193-06936218811db9a4d4604790af17580d4.pdf
14. IN THE FRONT LINE: Shoreline Protection and Other Ecosystem Services from Mangroves and Coral Reefs
United Nations UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre
This article says, in part, “The Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 and its tragic and devastating consequences were a wake-up call for the global community, dramatically drawing attention to the vulnerability of tropical coastal ecosystems and the dangers of undermining the services they provide to humankind. This was further emphasized by the catastrophic hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005 when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma caused much publicized and extensive damage to coastal areas. The numerous other tropical storms that affected coastal
communities and ecosystems in other parts of the world in the same year received much less attention, but were also notable. The lessons learnt in terms of loss of life, damage sustained, and approaches to reconstruction and mitigation are critically relevant to future management of the coast in a context of increasing severe weather events such as hurricanes and typhoons, and other potential consequences
of global warming. More than ever, it is essential to consider the full value of ‘ecosystem services’ (the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems) when making decisions about coastal development.”
http://www.unep.org/pdf/infrontline_06.pdf
15. Adapting to Pacific Island mangrove responses to sea level rise and climate change
Eric L. Gilman, Joanna Ellison, Vainuupo Jungblut, Hanneke Van Lavieren, Lisette Wilson, Francis Areki, Genevieve Brighouse, John Bungitak, Eunice Dus, Marion Henry, Mandes Kilman, Elizabeth Matthews, Ierupaala Sauni Jr., Nenenteiti Teariki-Ruatu, Sione Tukia, Kathy Yuknavage
This article says, in part, “Stresses associated with effects of climate change, including rise in relative mean sea level, present one set of threats to mangroves. Coastal development and ecosystems in the Pacific Islands region are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects. We investigated the capacity of Pacific Island countries and territories to assess mangrove vulnerability to the effects of climate change, and their capacity to adapt to mangrove responses to these forces.”
http://eprints.utas.edu.au/3059/
16. NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC BIOGEOGRAPHY OF MANGROVES IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC : A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI`I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN BOTANY
17. Dissertation of Elise F. Granek for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology presented on June 21, 2006.
Title: Linkages Between Mangrove Forests and Coral Reefs: Quantifying Disturbance Effects and Energy Flow Between Systems
This article says, in part, “In this study, disturbance to mangrove forests changed abiotic factors including light intensity, temperature, and sedimentation, triggering shifts in the biotic community
locally, leading to increased algal abundance. Altered conditions in the mangrove forests impacted an abiotic condition, sedimentation, on adjacent reefs. These results highlight the importance of considering the effects of interface habitat degradation (here, mangrove forests) on functioning and structure in adjacent, downstream systems, i.e. coral reefs and seagrass beds, and how these effects change over time.”
18. Red mangrove eradication and pickleweed control in a Hawaiian wetland, waterbird responses, and lessons learned
M.J. Rauzon and D.C. Drigot
This article says, in part, “The indigenous black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax hoatil) is resident in the WMA, primarily feeding on talapia and nesting in mangroves and other introduced trees...Night-herons in Nu'upia Ponds have benefited from both pickleweed management and mangrove maturation....Stilt populations have dipped and counts of young produced after mangrove removal have not sustained a population boost due to new habitat availability.”
http://www.issg.org/database/species/reference_files/TURTID/Rauzon.pdf
19. U.S. Forest Service receives $1.6M grant to study hybrid ecosystems in Hawaii
By Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press November 24, 2010.
This article says, in part, “Invasive species are so pervasive in Hawaii's low-lying areas that the U.S. Forest Service says it's not cost-effective or practical to eradicate them all. Instead, it's launching new research into developing "hybrid ecosystems" that will incorporate some nonnative plants but allow native plants to thrive.”
20. A Friend to Aliens: Are Invasive Species Really a Big Threat? Buckthorn, garlic mustard and many other invasive species do not pose as big a threat as some scientists think, says ecologist Mark Davis, Scientific American Magazine, February, 2011
This article says, in part, “A species is a problem when humans define it as a problem. Organisms are just organisms. They're not moral or ethical; they are just living. Good or bad, that's completely a human declaration. The problem I have is when species are not health threats, are not causing any significant economic cost, yet people claim they have undesirable ecological effects. And that's where I think it's very important that we challenge ourselves: "Wait a minute. Is this harm, or is this just change?" The fact that certain native species may become less abundant, is that really harm, or is that just change? It's socially irresponsible to call those changes harm. Once we declare something as invasive or harmful, it makes society obliged to reduce or mitigate this harm, which draws on scarce resources. I don't believe we can justify using social resources to support projects that are often little more than claims of personal preference.”
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-friend-to-aliens&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_SP_20110124