Abstract Detail

Greater Caribbean Biodiversity and its Eco-physiology: Sustainability or degradation in next 50 years?

Lopez-Portillo, Jorge [1], Lara-Domínguez, Ana Laura [2], Ewers, Frank W [3], Vovides, Alejandra [4], Thorhaug, Anitra [5].

Mangroves as important coastal communities of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean: their ecophysiology and restoration to enhance sustainability and avert degradation.

The mangrove species Avicennia germinans, Laguncularia racemosa and Rhizophora mangle may grow as stunted shrubs (80 ppt) when water flows are interrupted by roads, dikes and highways or lagoon inlets are closed after hurricanes, especially in karstic environments. Environmental services such as nitrogen fixation and carbon storage are lost by denitrification, the decomposition of roots (causing the collapse of soils) and of aboveground wood when mangroves die or suffer chronic damage. Such losses are difficult and expensive to recover even after restoration measures, such as recovering hydrological flows, are executed. Physical mangrove restoration done other areas of the Gulf of Mexico and in Panama, is at an early stage in Mexico.

Broader Impacts:

1 - Instituto De Ecología, A.C., Carretera Antigua A Coatepec 351, El Haya, Xalapa, Veracruz, N/A, 91070, Mexico
2 - Instituto de Ecologia, Red de Ecología Funcional, Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, , Xalapa, Vera Cruz, 91070, Mexico
3 - Pomona California State Polytechnic University, Office of Research, 3801 West Temple Avenue, Pomona, CA, 91768, USA
4 - Instituto de Ecología, A.C., , Red de Ecología Funcional, Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, Xalapa, Vera Cruz, 91070, Mexcio
5 - Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 370 Prospect St. , New Haven , Ct., 06511, USA

Keywords:
mangroves
Avicennia germinans
Laguncularia racemosa
Rhizophora mangle
mangrove hypersalinity
nitrogen fixation
mangrove carbon sequestration
mangrove physiology
mangrove pollutant tolerances.

Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY11
Location: Rosedown/Riverside Hilton
Date: Wednesday, July 31st, 2013
Time: 3:30 PM
Number: SY11005
Abstract ID:290
Candidate for Awards:None