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Pantropical trends in mangrove above-ground biomass and annual litterfall

Peter Saenger¹, Samuel C Snedaker²

¹Centre for Coastal Management, University of New England-Northern Rivers, P.O. Box 157, 2480, Lismore, NSW, Australia.

|March 18, 2017

Abstract:

A major paradigm in biosphere ecology is that organic production, carbon turnover and, perhaps, species diversity are highest at tropical latitudes, and decrease toward higher latitudes. To examine these trends in the pantropical mangrove forest vegetation type, we collated and analysed data on above-ground biomass and annual litterfall for these communities. Regressions of biomass and litterfall data show significant relationships with height of the vegetation and latitude. It is suggested that height and latitude are causally related to biomass, while the relationship with litterfall reflects the specific growing conditions at the respective study sites. Comparison of mangrove and upland forest litterfall data shows similar trends with latitude but indicates that mangrove litterfall is higher than upland forest litterfall. The regression equations allow the litterfall/biomass ratio to be simulated, and this suggests that the patterns of organic matter partitioning differ according to latitude.

Keywords:

Biomass Latitude Litterfall Mangroves

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