Ecosystem services and disservices of mangrove forests and salt marshes

Friess, Daniel A.; Yando, Erik S.; Alemu, Jahson Berhane; Wong, Lynn-Wei; Soto, Sasha D.; Bhatia, Natasha

doi:10.1201/9780429351495-3

Cited by 46 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…likely playing a similar role possibly supplemented by seed dispersal (Gumal, 2001;Weber et al, 2015;Wee et al, 2017). Since mangrove health can be crucial for maintaining healthy functioning coral reefs (Mumby, 2006;Yates et al, 2014;Loh et al, 2018;Friess et al, 2020), this suggests that the ecological importance of pteropodids extends beyond terrestrial and even coastal/estuarine ecosystems to potentially influence the health of marine ecosystems too. To fully understand the importance of pteropodid bats at the community level, we need broad studies across a greater breadth of ecosystems.…”

Section: Function Of Pteropodids At the Community Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pteropodids have also been implicated in potential ecosystem disservices to humans through their consumption of agricultural fruits (Zhang et al, 2007;Aziz et al, 2016) and the dispersal of exotic plants (Corlett, 2005;von Döhren and Haase, 2015;Vaz et al, 2017;Chan et al, 2020). As such, future approaches to assessing, quantifying and valuing the ecological roles of pteropodids should attempt to more be more holistic in including both services and disservices (Friess et al, 2020).…”

Section: Assessing the Ecosystem Services For Humans Provided By Pteropodidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Critical Importance of Old World Fruit Bats for Healthy Ecosystems and Economies

Aziz¹,

McConkey

Tanalgo

et al. 2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Despite extensive documentation of the ecological and economic importance of Old World fruit bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) and the many threats they face from humans, negative attitudes towards pteropodids have persisted, fuelled by perceptions of bats as being pests and undesirable neighbours. Such long-term negativity towards bats is now further exacerbated by more recent disease-related concerns, particularly associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic. There remains an urgent need to investigate and highlight the positive and beneficial aspects of bats across the Old World. While previous reviews have summarised these extensively, numerous new studies conducted over the last 36 years have provided further valuable data and insights which warrant an updated review. Here we synthesise research on pteropodid-plant interactions, comprising diet, ecological roles, and ecosystem services, conducted during 1985-2020. We uncovered a total of 311 studies covering 75 out of the known 201 pteropodid species (37%), conducted in 47 countries. The majority of studies documented diet (52% of all studies; 67 pteropodid species), followed by foraging movement (49%; 50 pteropodid species), with fewer studies directly investigating the roles played by pteropodids in seed dispersal (24%; 41 pteropodid species), pollination (14%; 19 pteropodid species), and conflict with fruit growers (12%; 11 pteropodid species). Pteropodids were recorded feeding on 1072 plant species from 493 genera and 148 families, with fruits comprising the majority of plant parts consumed, followed by flowers/nectar/pollen, leaves, and other miscellaneous parts. Sixteen pteropodid species have been confirmed to act as pollinators for a total of 21 plant species, and 29 pteropodid species have been confirmed to act as seed dispersers for a total of 311 plant species. Anthropogenic threats disrupting bat-plant interactions in the Old World include hunting, direct persecution, habitat loss/disturbance, invasive species, and climate change, leading to ecosystem-level repercussions. We identify notable research gaps and important research priorities to support conservation action for pteropodids.

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Section: Function Of Pteropodids At the Community Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Assessing the Ecosystem Services For Humans Provided By Pteropodidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Critical Importance of Old World Fruit Bats for Healthy Ecosystems and Economies

Aziz¹,

McConkey

Tanalgo

et al. 2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…Misinformed and biased public communication has important implications for environmental management. Historically, mangrove forests have been cast in a negative light due to their (often perceived) ecosystem disservices (Friess et al, 2020a), such as being habitats for dangerous animals (like crocodiles, tigers, and snakes) and insects (like mosquitoes and sandflies) that act as vectors for disease. Descriptions of mangroves as a source of putrid exhalations indicative of death to come have been around since at least the nineteenth century (Darwin, 1839;Friess, 2016).…”

Section: Dangers Of Misperceptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such views have contributed to the large-scale clearance and drainage of mangrove forests and their conversion to aquaculture, agriculture or areas for infrastructure and urban development in ever more human-dominated land and seascapes. Mangrove loss occurred under the assumption that such interventions were converting dangerous and valueless wastelands into more directly economical uses, as a way of controlling nature and harnessing these areas for human use (Friess et al, 2020a).…”

Section: Dangers Of Misperceptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Perceptions of Mangrove Forests Matter for Their Conservation

et al. 2020

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“…Salt marshes represent a major component of low-lying sedimentary coastal systems and occur across the world [1]. Over recent decades, salt marshes have attracted increasing attention, with much research being focused on the services and functions they provide [2]. Salt marshes exhibit an extremely high biodiversity [3] and primary productivity [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topological and Morphological Controls on Morphodynamics of Salt Marsh Interiors

Evans

Möller

Spencer

2021

JMSE

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Salt marshes are important coastal environments and provide multiple benefits to society. They are considered to be declining in extent globally, including on the UK east coast. The dynamics and characteristics of interior parts of salt marsh systems are spatially variable and can fundamentally affect biotic distributions and the way in which the landscape delivers ecosystem services. It is therefore important to understand, and be able to predict, how these landscape configurations may evolve over time and where the greatest dynamism will occur. This study estimates morphodynamic changes in salt marsh areas for a regional domain over a multi-decadal timescale. We demonstrate at a landscape scale that relationships exist between the topology and morphology of a salt marsh and changes in its condition over time. We present an inherently scalable satellite-derived measure of change in marsh platform integrity that allows the monitoring of changes in marsh condition. We then demonstrate that easily derived geospatial and morphometric parameters can be used to determine the probability of marsh degradation. We draw comparisons with previous work conducted on the east coast of the USA, finding differences in marsh responses according to their position within the wider coastal system between the two regions, but relatively consistent in relation to the within-marsh situation. We describe the sub-pixel-scale marsh morphometry using a morphological segmentation algorithm applied to 25 cm-resolution maps of vegetated marsh surface. We also find strong relationships between morphometric indices and change in marsh platform integrity which allow for the inference of past dynamism but also suggest that current morphology may be predictive of future change. We thus provide insight into the factors governing marsh degradation that will assist the anticipation of adverse changes to the attributes and functions of these critical coastal environments and inform ongoing ecogeomorphic modelling developments.

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Ecosystem services and disservices of mangrove forests and salt marshes

Cited by 46 publications

References 1 publication

The Critical Importance of Old World Fruit Bats for Healthy Ecosystems and Economies

The Critical Importance of Old World Fruit Bats for Healthy Ecosystems and Economies

Public Perceptions of Mangrove Forests Matter for Their Conservation

Topological and Morphological Controls on Morphodynamics of Salt Marsh Interiors

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