Abstract
Fragmentation is a major driver of ecosystem degradation, reducing the capacity of habitats to provide many important ecosystem services. Mangrove ecosystem services, such as erosion prevention, shoreline protection and mitigation of climate change (through carbon sequestration), depend on the size and arrangement of forest patches, but we know little about broad-scale patterns of mangrove forest fragmentation. Here we conduct a multi-scale analysis using global estimates of mangrove density and regional drivers of mangrove deforestation to map relationships between habitat loss and fragmentation. Mangrove fragmentation was ubiquitous; however, there are geographic disparities between mangrove loss and fragmentation; some regions, like Cambodia and the southern Caribbean, had relatively little loss, but their forests have been extensively fragmented. In Southeast Asia, a global hotspot of mangrove loss, the conversion of forests to aquaculture and rice plantations were the biggest drivers of loss (>50%) and fragmentation. Surprisingly, conversion of forests to oil palm plantations, responsible for >15% of all deforestation in Southeast Asia, was only weakly correlated with mangrove fragmentation. Thus, the management of different deforestation drivers may increase or decrease fragmentation. Our findings suggest that large scale monitoring of mangrove forests should also consider fragmentation. This work highlights that regional priorities for conservation based on forest loss rates can overlook fragmentation and associated loss of ecosystem functionality.
Highlights
Fragmentation is a major driver of ecosystem degradation, reducing the capacity of habitats to provide many important ecosystem services
The majority of contemporary mangrove loss occurs in Southeast Asia, where ~50% of the remaining global mangrove forest area is located, with nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar continuing to show losses of 0.26, 0.41 and 0.70% per year, respectively[10]
Hotspots of fragmentation include Cambodia, Cameroon, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea and the southern Caribbean (Aruba, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago). Some of these areas are associated with high deforestation rates; areas such as Cambodia, Cameroon, New Guinea and nations with little mangrove area in the southern Caribbean (Aruba, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago) have comparatively low loss rates
Summary
Fragmentation is a major driver of ecosystem degradation, reducing the capacity of habitats to provide many important ecosystem services. Mangrove ecosystem services, such as erosion prevention, shoreline protection and mitigation of climate change (through carbon sequestration), depend on the size and arrangement of forest patches, but we know little about broad-scale patterns of mangrove forest fragmentation. Mangroves are intertidal wetlands found along coastlines in much of the tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate world These forests provide valuable ecosystem services including preventing erosion[1], providing habitat for fisheries species[2], protecting coastal communities from extreme weather events[3,4] and storing large reserves of blue carbon, mitigating global climate change[5]. These two metrics can be highly correlated with the extent of forests in the landscape[31]
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