Abstract

Mangrove forest is an important ecosystem that provides many services, but in Panama, as in other countries, they are under threat due to a variety of human activities. Nowadays, large areas of mangroves continue to be lost without been described and lack of management strategies. This study focused on the mangrove structure in the two largest islands, Isla del Rey and Isla San Jose, of Las Perlas Archipelago (LPA), Pacific Panama. Assessment of Landsat satellite imagery revealed loss of mangroves in the LPA of 965ha in the period 1974-1986, and 248ha in the period 1986-2000. The majority of the loss (>77%) from the two study islands was due to timber extraction and agricultural development. In May 2006, permanent plots following the CARICOMP protocol were established at two sites on Isla del Rey (R1 and R2) and one site on Isla San Jose (SJ) where standardized metrics such as species, height and diameter at breast height of adult trees and seedlings were recorded. Forest structure differed at the three sites, although R1 and R2 were most similar. At R1, Laguncularia racemosa was the important species and R2 was dominated by Pelliciera rhizophorae. Examination of the forest structure and classified imagery indicated that these sites are spatially dynamic and appear to be rejuvenating. The forest structure would indicate that the sites have been growth-limited previously by human activities and possibly by other factors. SJ was dominated by Rhizophora mangle and appears to have a mature forest with large adult trees and few seedlings. It does not appear to have shown the same extent of spatial regrowth as the other two sites between 1986 and 2000 and is relatively static. The establishment of permanent plots and monitoring will be useful as part of the management plan, as the LPA shows a variety of mangrove structures and could be subject to further coastal development.

Highlights

  • The structure of a mangrove forest at any point in time is a function of its successional stage, species composition, zonation, propagule dispersal, growth and survival

  • An area of 965ha was lost according to the analysis performed on the satellite data, of which the majority of the loss (90.3%) was on Isla del Rey and Isla San José

  • Between 1986 and 2000 mangrove forest in the Las Perlas Archipelago (LPA) saw a decrease in cover, not as much as in the previously examined period, of which Isla del Rey and Isla San José combined again represented the majority of the loss (77.1%)

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Summary

Introduction

The structure of a mangrove forest at any point in time is a function of its successional stage, species composition, zonation, propagule dispersal, growth and survival. Areas of mangroves under threat from human interference and not previously studied should be priority targets for research With this in mind the Las Perlas Archipelago (LPA) in Pacific Panama was selected as a survey location as the forests found on the islands meet these criteria. Whilst there have been several mangrove studies conducted in Panama (Rabinowitz 1975, Rabinowitz 1978a,b,c, Smith et al 1989, Duke et al 1997, Benfield et al 2005, Defew et al 2005, Lovelock et al 2005) no scientific research to the authors’ knowledge has been carried out on the mangroves of LPA This is largely due to the isolated nature of the islands, which lie some distance from the mainland coast of Panama and Panama City. The aims of the study were to assess the structure of mangrove forest on the two largest islands, Isla del Rey and Isla San José, and to establish permanent plots at these sites to allow future monitoring of mangrove forest structure

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