Abstract
The tropical and subtropical mangrove biomes form the foundation of a highly productive and biologically rich ecosystem providing essential goods and services to human beings. Despite its values, the stability and survival of mangroves are consistently threatened by anthropogenic activities and their associated degradation, resulting in their disappearance. After realizing their ecological importance, in recent years, rehabilitation and restoration programs for mangrove forests have been launched globally. Unfortunately, most mangrove restoration efforts yielded negative results and failed to re-establish mangrove forests because of technical and social failures. Besides, the continued outbreak of wood borer, Sphaeroma spp., in mangrove forests has become one of the destructive causes of natural and restored mangrove forests in some nations including China. However, few studies on the biology of Sphaeroma spp. found in Chinese mangrove ecosystem have been done, and little is known concerning the factors affecting their outbreak in China. In this review, we discussed the possible factors that affect the rapid growth and recruitment of Sphaeroma spp. in the mangrove ecosystem by examining the information of the wood borer Sphaeroma spp. from the scattered pieces of literature with great regard. We discussed the relationship between the recruitment of Sphaeroma spp. and the tide and flow of water, food availability from the surrounding water and water quality including salinity, temperature, and the pollution of water. In addition to these factors, the reduced biodiversity of restored mangrove forest could be one of the main reasons for the outbreak of isopod. We also discussed the destructive impact of the isopod’s outbreak and the possible ways to control their outbreak in mangrove forest.
Highlights
The terms such as mangal [1], mangrove ecosystem, mangrove forest and mangrove swamp are interchangeably used to describe the entire community, the term “mangrove” can refer to both the ecosystem as a whole and the plant species that it comprises
Few studies on the biology of Sphaeroma spp. found in Chinese mangrove ecosystem have been done, and little is known concerning the factors affecting their outbreak in China
We discussed the destructive impact of the isopod’s outbreak and the possible ways to control their outbreak in mangrove forest
Summary
The terms such as mangal [1], mangrove ecosystem, mangrove forest and mangrove swamp are interchangeably used to describe the entire community, the term “mangrove” can refer to both the ecosystem as a whole and the plant species that it comprises. Projections imply that an estimated 10% - 15% of mangroves could be lost due to climate change by the year 2100 [7] In addition to these two factors, mangrove trees are damaged by a variety of herbivore and wood-boring organisms including insects, bivalves and in particular marine or estuarine isopods [16] [17]. These wood borers burrow into the newly forming roots’ tips, anchored roots, branches and trunks of different mangrove species in search of food and shelter [17] [18] [19] [20]. More effective research should be done in order to find out the way which can control the ecological balance between mangroves and the outbreak of isopods
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