A global biophysical typology of mangroves and its relevance for ecosystem structure and deforestation

Thomas A. Worthington; Philine S.E. zu Ermgassen; Daniel A. Friess; Ken Krauss; Catherine E. Lovelock; Rick Tingey; Colin D. Woodroffe; Pete Bunting; N. Cormier; David Lagomasino; Richard Lucas; Nicholas J. Murray; William J. Sutherland; Mark Spalding

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-71194-5

A global biophysical typology of mangroves and its relevance for ecosystem structure and deforestation

Scientific Reports

By: Thomas A. Worthington, Philine S.E. zu Ermgassen, Daniel A. Friess, Ken Krauss, Catherine E. Lovelock, Rick Tingey, Colin D. Woodroffe, Pete Bunting, N. Cormier, David Lagomasino, Richard Lucas, Nicholas J. Murray, William J. Sutherland, and Mark Spalding

Edited by: Julia Thorley

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-71194-5

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Abstract

Mangrove forests provide many ecosystem services but are among the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Mangroves vary substantially according to their geomorphic and sedimentary setting; while several conceptual frameworks describe these settings, their spatial distribution has not been quantified. Here, we present a new global mangrove biophysical typology and show that, based on their 2016 extent, 40.5% (54,972 km²) of mangrove systems were deltaic, 27.5% (37,411 km²) were estuarine and 21.0% (28,493 km²) were open coast, with lagoonal mangroves the least abundant (11.0%, 14,993 km²). Mangroves were also classified based on their sedimentary setting, with carbonate mangroves being less abundant than terrigenous, representing just 9.6% of global coverage. Our typology provides a basis for future research to incorporate geomorphic and sedimentary setting in analyses. We present two examples of such applications. Firstly, based on change in extent between 1996 and 2016, we show while all types exhibited considerable declines in area, losses of lagoonal mangroves (− 6.9%) were nearly twice that of other types. Secondly, we quantify differences in aboveground biomass between mangroves of different types, with it being significantly lower in lagoonal mangroves. Overall, our biophysical typology provides a baseline for assessing restoration potential and for quantifying mangrove ecosystem service provision.

Additional publication details
Publication type	Article
Publication Subtype	Journal Article
Title	A global biophysical typology of mangroves and its relevance for ecosystem structure and deforestation
Series title	Scientific Reports
DOI	10.1038/s41598-020-71194-5
Volume	10
Year Published	2020
Language	English
Publisher	Nature
Contributing office(s)	Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Description	14652, 11 p.
Google Analytic Metrics	Metrics page