Abstract
Key messagePlant–soil feedbacks in mangrove ecosystems are important for ecosystem resilience and can be investigated by establishing links between empirical and modelling studies.Plant–soil feedbacks are important as they provide valuable insights into ecosystem dynamics and ecosystems stability and resilience against multiple stressors and disturbances, including global climate change. In mangroves, plant–soil feedbacks are important for ecosystem resilience in the face of sea level rise, carbon sequestration, and to support successful ecosystem restoration. Despite the recognition of the importance of plant–soil feedbacks in mangroves, there is limited empirical data available. We reviewed empirical studies from mangrove ecosystems and evaluate numerical models addressing plant–soil feedbacks. The empirical evidence suggests that plant–soil feedbacks strongly influence ecological processes (e.g. seedling recruitment and soil elevation change) and forest structure in mangrove ecosystems. Numerical models, which successfully describe plant–soil feedbacks in mangrove and other ecosystems, can be used in future empirical studies to test mechanistic understanding and project outcomes of environmental change. Moreover, the combination of both, modelling and empirical approaches, can improve mechanistic understanding of plant–soil feedbacks and thereby ecosystem dynamics in mangrove ecosystems. This combination will help to support sustainable coastal management and conservation.
Highlights
Mangroves are trees and scrubs that form extensive ecosystems that fringe sheltered coastlines, including shallow lagoons, river deltas and estuaries, in the tropics and subtropics
Mangrove forests vary in the range and level of ecosystem services that they provide due to variation in their position in the landscape, their species composition and structure (Gleason et al 2003; Feller et al 2010), which interacts with both human uses and physical environmental variables
We describe and explore the nature of the plant–soil feedback mechanisms that have been proposed to occur in mangrove ecosystems
Summary
Mangroves are trees and scrubs that form extensive ecosystems that fringe sheltered coastlines, including shallow lagoons, river deltas and estuaries, in the tropics and subtropics. They cover a global area of approximately 137,000. km (Spalding et al 2010) and provide a wide range of ecosystem services (Walters et al 2008; Barbier et al 2013). Mangrove forests vary in the range and level of ecosystem services that they provide due to variation in their position in the landscape, their species composition and structure (Gleason et al 2003; Feller et al 2010), which interacts with both human uses and physical environmental variables
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