Dissolved iron elution from mangrove ecosystem associated with polyphenols and a herbivorous snail

Interest in the systems supplying dissolved forms of iron to the sea from upland forests and wetlands has increased because iron is abundant on land but has low bioavailability in seawater. This can be a limiting factor for the growth of marine phytoplankton. Organic complex iron, a typical form of iron dissolved in seawater, is supplied to the ocean through rivers from forest and wetland soils. As a related study, we focus on mangrove ecosystems located at the boundary between the land and sea and on polyphenols present in leaves as ligands for the formation of iron complexes. When mangrove leaf litterfalls on the wet forest floor, phenolic compounds leach out from the leaves and might solubilize insoluble iron in the sediments (i.e., iron complexation). However, the reaction mechanism is not simple in the field, and it might be made more complex by tidal currents and intervention by crabs and snails, which consume mangrove leaf litter. In the present study, we focused on a detritivorous snail, Terebralia palustris, as a facilitator of iron solubilization associated with phenolic compounds, and examined how the snail contribute to iron solubilization processes. Our results indicated that the amounts of phenolic compounds in mangrove sediments are strongly related to iron solubilization. Furthermore, the average dissolved iron and phenolic contents in sediments from areas inhabited by the snail were significantly higher than those of sediments where the snail was not present. We additionally report that the solubilization of iron was promoted when snail feces were added to mangrove sediments. In conclusion, we propose that iron solubilization in mangrove sediments is promoted by the interaction between i) iron in the sediment, ii) phenolic compounds derived from mangroves, and iii) the consumption of leaves and the deposition of feces by the snail.