Distribution of Mangrove Habitats of Grenada and the Grenadines

Abstract

Moore, G.E.; Gilmer, B.F., and Schill, S.R., 2015. Distribution of mangrove habitats of Grenada and the Grenadines. Journal of Coastal Research, 31(1), [155][156][157][158][159][160][161][162], ISSN 0749-0208.Mangroves of Grenada and the Grenadines represent significant habitat within the regional context of the Eastern Caribbean. Losses of mangroves through storms, development, and climate change have negative impacts on critical ecosystem services. Estimates of mangrove area exist in the literature but do not fully reflect current conditions, effects of disturbance, and results of recovery; they also do not differentiate these areas by community types. Advances in imagery and remote sensing approaches allow higher-resolution resource mapping. We used remote sensing, image interpretation, and field verification techniques to provide current estimates of the extent and distribution of mangroves. Our results provide the greatest areal total of mangroves to date. Despite loss of mangroves in the recent past, we accounted for approximately 15% more hectares than estimated in the 1990s and 28% more than predicted by hypothetical models for 2005. The discrepancies between prior and current mapped areas are likely due to differences in mapping precision and incomplete surveys that omitted the smaller Grenadine islands but also reflect actual increases in cover from natural recovery and recruitment following historic storm events. Basin mangroves represented the greatest area, while riverine and scrub contributed the least. Fringe mangroves were moderately abundant but were composed of small, isolated patches with high vulnerability to coastal storms and limited opportunity for inland retreat. Documenting the presence and distribution of mangroves, and specifically mangrove community types, will be of value to conservation, restoration, and management planning in light of predicted sea level rise and climate change effects.ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: Eastern Caribbean, coastal resource mapping, geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing, climate change, management.

Pathways to bridge the biophysical realism gap in ecosystem services mapping approaches

“…First, there is a lack of information at which scales ecosystem processes and functions occur and how these relate to the provisioning of services. Second, the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functions in marine ecosystems are still poorly known (Bergström et al, 2015;Moore et al, 2015). The literature search on marine models/mapping conducted as part of this review highlighted a considerable number of studies which stopped at the assessment or prediction of ESP distributions without taking the next step in analysing their implications for ES provision (e.g.…”

“…The literature search on marine models/mapping conducted as part of this review highlighted a considerable number of studies which stopped at the assessment or prediction of ESP distributions without taking the next step in analysing their implications for ES provision (e.g. Albouy et al, 2013;Bergström et al, 2015;Moore et al, 2015). Although this is not an easy problem, experience from terrestrial ecosystems in the integration of biotic processes and biodiversity effects into ES quantification and mapping may speed up progress for marine and coastal ecosystems.…”

Some Elements of Knowledge on the Coastal Floristic Formations of Martinique (French West Indies)

“…We can describe several facies and they generally belong to the following types (Note 4): Sandy beach, pebble beach, cliff, rocky margin, dry land vegetation, swamp forest, mangrove (Moore, Gilmer and Schill, 2014). Man (Note 5), the marine hydrodynamics and seasonal climatic disturbances (waves, depressions, storms and hurricanes) are the in main contemporary factors contributing to their evolution (Schleupner, 2007;Fricker and Forbes, 1988;Burke, et al, 2001).…”

“…In order of importance the physiognomies of the existing littoral vegetation are the shrub, herbaceous, mixed (shrub/herbaceous or shrub/tree), young pre-sylvatic and sylvatic ones (Moore, Gilmer and Schill, 2014). The structural secondary or late forests are very marginal.…”

Introduced mammals threaten the Grenadines transboundary tropical seabird hotspot

“…These islands emerge from the shallow Grenada Bank, situated at the convergence of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The Grenadines region is characterized by extensive coral reefs, seagrass beds, a series of salt ponds, and mangroves (Moore et al 2015, Coffey and Ollivierre 2019, Coffey and Collier 2020. The Grenadines are highly productive due to the geography of the Grenada Bank, with oceanographic processes providing nutrients for fauna such as fish, marine mammals, and seabirds.…”