Global ecosystem typology

Alternative site for the Global ecosystem typology with additional information for ecosystem profiles and indicative maps.

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MFT1.2 Intertidal forests and shrublands

Biome: MFT1. Brackish tidal biome

Contributors:
(texts)

Mangroves create structurally complex and productive ecosystems in the intertidal zone of depositional coasts, around tropical and warm temperate regions. The biota includes aquatic and terrestrial species, and intertidal specialists. Large volumes of mangrove leaves and twigs are decomposed by fungi and bacteria, mobilising carbon and nutrients for invertebrates such as crabs, worms and snails. Shellfish and juvenile fish are protected from desiccation and predators amongst mangrove roots. Mangrove canopies support many terrestrial species, particularly birds. These forests are important carbon sinks, retaining organic matter in sediments and living biomass.

Key Features

Intertidal mangrove-dominated systems, producing high amounts of organic matter that is both buried in situ and exported; sediments dominated by detritivores and leaf shredders, with birds , mammals, reptiles and terrestrial invertebrates occupying the canopy.

Overview of distribution

Tropical and warm temperate coastlines with good sediment supply.

Profile versions

  • v1.0 (2020-01-20): MJ Bishop; DA Keith
  • v2.0 (2020-05-29): MJ Bishop; AH Altieri; TS Bianchi; DA Keith
  • v2.01 ():
  • v2.1 (2022-04-06): MJ Bishop; AH Altieri; TS Bianchi; DA Keith Full profile available at official site

Main references

Selected references for this functional group:

  • Duke N, Ball M, Ellison J (1998) Factors influencing biodiversity and distributional gradients in mangroves Global Ecology & Biogeography Letters 7:27-47 DOI:10.2307/2997695

  • Krauss KW, Lovelock CE, McKee KL, López-Hoffman L, Ewe SM, Sousa WP (2008) Environmental drivers in mangrove establishment and early development: a review Aquatic Botany 89:105-27 DOI:10.1016/j.aquabot.2007.12.014

  • Feller IC, Lovelock CE, Berger U,, McKee KL, Joye SB, Ball MC (2010) Biocomplexity in mangrove ecosystems Annual Review of Marine Science 2, 395–417 DOI:10.1146/annurev.marine.010908.163809

Diagrammatic assembly model

Diagrammatic assembly model of MFT1.2 Intertidal forests and shrublands. See general notes on diagrams. Open image full size.

Maps

Maps are indicative of global distribution patterns are not intended to represent fine-scale patterns. The maps show areas of the world containing major (coloured red) or minor occurrences (coloured yellow) of each ecosystem functional group. See general notes on maps.

Information about the current valid indicative map for this functional group is shown below.

MFT1.2.WM.nwx_v1.0

The indicative map for Intertidal forests and shrublands was was developed by resampling the known global distribution of mangrove forests for the year 2016 mapped by Global Mangrove Watch (Bunting et al. 2018). We used a buffer of 1km around the distribution data and a 30 arc second grid, thus large aggregations (> 1km2) are depicted as major occurrences, and the buffer areas with small occurrences are shown as minor occurrences. Open image full size.

Datasets

  • GMW2016

Map references

  • Bunting P., Rosenqvist A., Lucas R., Rebelo L-M., Hilarides L., Thomas N., Hardy A., Itoh T., Shimada M. and Finlayson C.M. (2018) The Global Mangrove Watch – a New 2010 Global Baseline of Mangrove Extent Remote Sensing 10(10): 1669 DOI:10.3390/rs1010669

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