Mangroves of Africa

Diop, E. S.; Gordon, Chris; Semesi, A. K.; Soumaré, Abdoulaye; Diallo, N.; Guissé, Aliou; Diouf, M.; Ayivor, Jesse S.

doi:10.1007/978-3-662-04713-2_2

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…The soils of West-Central African mangroves are quite varied reflecting a diversity of geologic and pedogenetic processes. Soils in our study sites were composed of quartzitic sands (in southern Gabon) to finer textures ranging from silty clay to sandy silts in the other sites [ 20 ].…”

Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves across broad environmental gradients in West-Central Africa: Global and regional comparisons

Kauffman

Bhomia

2017

PLoS ONE

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Globally, it is recognized that blue carbon ecosystems, especially mangroves, often sequester large quantities of carbon and are of interest for inclusion in climate change mitigation strategies. While 19% of the world’s mangroves are in Africa, they are among the least investigated of all blue carbon ecosystems. We quantified total ecosystem carbon stocks in 33 different mangrove stands along the Atlantic coast of West-Central Africa from Senegal to Southern Gabon spanning large gradients of latitude, soil properties, porewater salinity, and precipitation. Mangrove structure ranged from low and dense stands that were <1m in height and >35,000 trees ha-1 to tall and open stands >40m in height and <100 ha-1. Tremendous variation in ecosystem carbon (C) stocks was measured ranging from 154 to 1,484 Mg C ha-1. The mean total ecosystem carbon stock for all mangroves of West-Central Africa was 799 Mg C ha-1. Soils comprised an average of 86% of the total carbon stock. The greatest carbon stocks were found in the tall mangroves of Liberia and Gabon North with a mean >1,000 Mg C ha-1. The lowest carbon stocks were found in the low mangroves of the semiarid region of Senegal (463 Mg C ha-1) and in mangroves on coarse-textured soils in Gabon South (541 Mg C ha-1). At the scale of the entirety of West-Central Africa, total ecosystem carbon stocks were poorly correlated to aboveground ecosystem carbon pools, precipitation, latitude and soil salinity (r2 = ≤0.07 for all parameters). Based upon a sample of 158 sites from Africa, Asia and Latin America that were sampled in a similar manner to this study, the global mean of carbon stocks for mangroves is 885 Mg C ha-1. The ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves for West-Central Africa are slightly lower than those of Latin America (940 Mg C ha-1) and Asia (1049 Mg C ha-1) but substantially higher than the default Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) values for mangroves (511 Mg C ha-1). This study provides an improved estimation of default estimates (Tier 1 values) of mangroves for Asia, Latin America, and West Central Africa.

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Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves across broad environmental gradients in West-Central Africa: Global and regional comparisons

Kauffman

Bhomia

2017

PLoS ONE

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“…Gastropods in the Caribbean and elsewhere have been pointed as key detritivores and sediment grazers, even outweighing the role of crabs [80][81][82]. Available assessments on the impacts of mangrove deforestation on benthos report that vegetation provides support and physical habitat that may reduce predation and desiccation (Asia: [83,84]; Africa: [85,86]; Australia: [87]). For instance, clearing pneumatophores in small-scale deforestations for building walkways and trails was correlated with a decline in density and species richness in the entire community, particularly on gastropods [87].…”

Section: Impacts Of Selective Logging and Mangrove Reclamation On Benmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem-Wide Impacts of Deforestation in Mangroves: The Urabá Gulf (Colombian Caribbean) Case Study

et al. 2012

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Mangroves are ecologically important and extensive in the Neotropics, but they are visibly threatened by selective logging and conversion to pastures in the Southern Caribbean. The objective of this paper was to summarize the impacts of both threats on forest structure, species composition, aboveground biomass and carbon reservoir, species introgressions, and benthic fauna populations by collating past and current data and by using an interdisciplinary approach in the Urabá Gulf (Colombia) as a case study. Mangroves in the Eastern Coast have been decimated and have produced unskewed tree-diameter (DBH) distributions due to the overexploitation of Rhizophora mangle for poles (DBH range: 7-17 cm) and of Avicennia germinans for planks and pilings (DBH > 40 cm). Selective logging increased the importance value of the light-tolerant white mangrove Laguncularia racemosa, also increasing biomass and carbon storage in this species, thus offsetting reductions in other species. Introgressions (cryptic ecological degradation) by L. racemosa and Acrostichum aureum (mangrove fern) and low densities of otherwise dominant detritivore snails (Neritina virginea) were observed in periurban basin mangroves. Finally, basin mangroves were more threatened than fringing mangroves due to their proximity to expanding pastures, villages, and a coastal city.

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“…Mangroves play significant ecological, economic, and cultural roles in fisheries‐dependent coastal communities in tropical Africa (Diop et al , ), including coastal Tanzania (McNally et al , ; Vo et al , ; Gaiser et al , ; Mangora et al , ; Robertson et al , ). The Tanzanian coastal region is identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature as a priority area because mangrove forests are under intense exploitation pressure for wood products and conversion to other land uses (Mangora et al , ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inter‐annual hydroclimatic variability in coastal Tanzania

Rohli

Ates

Rivera‐Monroy

et al. 2019

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Climatic controls regulate the coupled natural and human systems in coastal Tanzania, where mangrove wetlands provide a wealth of ecosystem services to coastal communities. Previous research has explained the precipitation seasonality of eastern Africa in terms of the local monsoons. This research examines a wider range of hydroclimatic variables, including water vapour flux, evapotranspiration, runoff, and ocean salinity, and the sources of low‐frequency atmosphere–ocean variability that support mangrove productivity and associated ecosystem services. Results confirm previous work suggesting that the northeast monsoon (kaskazi) largely corresponds to the “short rains” of October–December and extends through February, while the southeast monsoon (kusi) corresponds to the “long rains” of March–May and the drier June–September. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and, to a lesser extent, El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are important modulators not only of precipitation (as has been shown previously) but also of water vapour flux, evapotranspiration, runoff, and salinity variability. During kaskazi, positive (negative) hydroclimatic anomalies occur during positive (negative) IOD, with a stronger IOD influence occurring during its positive phase, when seasonal anomalies of precipitation, evapotranspiration, and runoff exceed +50, 25, and 100%, and nearby salinity decreases by 0.5 practical salinity units. During kusi, the contrast between the positive and negative IOD modes is subtler, and the pattern is dictated more by variability in “long rains” months than in the dry months. The coincidence of the positive IOD and El Niño amplify this hydroclimatic signal. Because previous work suggests the likelihood of increased tendency for positive IOD and increased moisture variability associated with El Niño events in the future, wetter conditions may accompany the kaskazi, with less change expected during the kusi. These results advance understanding of the key environmental drivers controlling mangrove productivity and wetland spatial distribution that provide ecosystem services essential to the well‐being of the human population.

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Mangroves of Africa

Cited by 17 publications

References 0 publications

Ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves across broad environmental gradients in West-Central Africa: Global and regional comparisons

Ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves across broad environmental gradients in West-Central Africa: Global and regional comparisons

Ecosystem-Wide Impacts of Deforestation in Mangroves: The Urabá Gulf (Colombian Caribbean) Case Study

Inter‐annual hydroclimatic variability in coastal Tanzania

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