%0 Journal Article
%T Ecosystem-Wide Impacts of Deforestation in Mangroves: The Urab芍 Gulf (Colombian Caribbean) Case Study
%A J. F. Blanco
%A E. A. Estrada
%A L. F. Ortiz
%A L. E. Urrego
%J ISRN Ecology
%D 2012
%R 10.5402/2012/958709
%X Mangroves are ecologically important and extensive in the Neotropics, but they are visibly threatened by selective logging and conversion to pastures in the Southern Caribbean. The objective of this paper was to summarize the impacts of both threats on forest structure, species composition, aboveground biomass and carbon reservoir, species introgressions, and benthic fauna populations by collating past and current data and by using an interdisciplinary approach in the Urab芍 Gulf (Colombia) as a case study. Mangroves in the Eastern Coast have been decimated and have produced unskewed tree-diameter (DBH) distributions due to the overexploitation of Rhizophora mangle for poles (DBH range: 7每17ˋcm) and of Avicennia germinans for planks and pilings (DBH > 4 0 ˋcm). Selective logging increased the importance value of the light-tolerant white mangrove Laguncularia racemosa, also increasing biomass and carbon storage in this species, thus offsetting reductions in other species. Introgressions (cryptic ecological degradation) by L. racemosa and Acrostichum aureum (mangrove fern) and low densities of otherwise dominant detritivore snails (Neritina virginea) were observed in periurban basin mangroves. Finally, basin mangroves were more threatened than fringing mangroves due to their proximity to expanding pastures, villages, and a coastal city. 1. Introduction Mangroves dominate tropical coasts and provide important services to humans, yet they are one of the most threatened ecosystems partially due to deforestation [1每3]. Mangroves offer provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services [4每6]. Provisioning services are the most commonly appreciated and include sources of timber, fibers and nonwoody products, fuels (firewood and charcoal), food (fisheries), biochemical products, and freshwater; however, the role of mangroves in climatic and hydrologic modulation, erosion control, protection against natural hazards, soil formation, and nutrient cycling has been recently recognized. In addition, different mangrove types (e.g., riverine, fringing, basin) provide specific services and support coastal fisheries to a different extent [6, 7], but they may also provide differential carbon capture capabilities [8每11]. Despite the many services offered by mangroves worldwide, deforestation as a consequence of overexploitation of woody products and land reclamation is the most important threat [1每3], although a great local variation is observed [12, 13]. Deforestation rates in mangroves are four times greater than those in terrestrial tropical rain forests. South
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.ecology/2012/958709/