Abstract
Mangroves are considered among the most productive ecosystems on the planet. While mangroves provide numerous critical ecosystem services to surrounding environments, there is particular interest in the role of mangroves as nursery habitats for fish and decapods. Despite this interest, scientific consensus regarding the role of mangroves as nurseries remains elusive. In this chapter, we identify four principal sources of variability that underlie conflicting conclusions regarding the function of mangroves as nursery habitat. We provide brief sketches of the reasons why these sources of variability may affect the role of mangroves as nursery habitat, drawing particularly on recent empirical advances in the field, and conclude with a conceptual model summarizing the different levels at which the nursery function of mangroves is evaluated.
‘It is time that we biologists accept diversity and variability for what they are, two of the essential features of the biological world. We would be wise to restructure our search for orderly patterns in the natural world. We should stop thinking primarily in terms of central tendencies … .Variation among and within species is fundamental to organisms. Analysis of variation can offer insights just as surely as can traditional delineation of central tendencies.’ (Bartholomew .
Keywords
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Adams A, Dahlgren C, Kellison GT et al (2006) The juvenile contribution function of tropical backreef systems. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 318:287–301
Alongi DM (2002) Present state and future of the world’s mangrove forests. Environ Conserv 29:331–349
Araujo FG, De Azevedo MCC, Silva MA et al (2002) Environmental influences on the demersal fish assemblages in the Sepetiba Bay, Brazil. Estuaries 25:441–450
Ault JS, Bohnsack JA, Meester GA (1998) A retrospective (1979–1996) multispecies assessment of coral reef fish stocks in the Florida Keys. US Fish Bull 96:395–414
Baker R, Sheaves M (2006) Visual surveys reveal high densities of large piscivores in shallow estuarine nurseries. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 323:75–82
Bardach J (1959) The summer standing crop of fish on a shallow Bermuda reef. Limnol Oceanogr 4:77–85
Barletta-Bergan A, Barletta M, Saint-Paul U (2002) Community structure and temporal variability of ichthyoplankton in North Brazilian mangrove creeks. J Fish Biol 61:33–51
Bartholomew GA (1986) The role of natural history in contemporary biology. BioScience 36: 324–329
Beck MW, Heck KL, Able KW et al (2001) The identification, conservation, and management of estuarine and marine nurseries for fish and invertebrates. Bioscience 51:633–641
Blaber SJM, Blaber TG (1980) Factors affecting the distribution of juvenile estuarine and inshore fish. J Fish Biol 17:143–162
Blaber SJM (2000) Tropical estuarine fishes: ecology, exploitation, and conservation. Blackwell Science Ltd., London
Blaber SJM (2007) Mangroves and fishes: issues of diversity, dependence, and dogma. Bull Mar Sci 80:457–472
Blaber SJM, Milton DA (1990) Species composition, community structure and zoogeography of fishes of mangrove estuaries in the Solomon Islands. Mar Biol 105:259–267
Blaber SJM, Young JW, Dunning MC (1985) Community structure and zoogeographic affinities of the coastal fishes of the Dampier Region of north-western Australia. Aust J Mar Freshw Res 36:247–266
Blaber SJM, Brewer DT, Salini JP (1989) Species composition and biomasses of fishes in different habitats of a tropical northern Australian estuary: their occurrence in the adjoining sea and estuarine dependence. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 29:509–531
Bolnick DI, Svanbäck R, Fordyce JA et al (2003) The ecology of individuals: incidence and implications of individual specialization. Am Nat 161:1–28
Bolnick DI, Svanback R, Araujo M et al (2007) More generalized populations are also more heterogeneous: comparative support for the niche variation hypothesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:10075–10079
Chittaro PM, Fryer BJ, Sale PF (2004) Discrimination of French grunts (Haemulon flavolineatum, Desmarest, 1823) from mangrove and coral reef habitats using otolith microchemistry. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 308:169–183
Chong VC, Sasekumar A, Leh MUC et al (1990) The fish and prawn communities of a Malaysian coastal mangrove system, with comparisons to adjacent mud flats and inshore waters. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 31:703–722
Cocheret de la Morinière E, Pollux BJA, Nagelkerken I et al (2002) Postsettlement life cycle migration patterns and habitat preference of coral reef fish that use seagrass and mangrove habitats as nurseries. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 55:309–321
Cocheret de la Morinière E, Pollux BJA, Nagelkerken I et al (2003) Ontogenetic dietary changes of coral reef fishes in the mangrove-seagrass-reef continuum: stable isotopes and gut-content analysis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 246:279–289
Costanza R, dArge R, deGroot R et al (1997) The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387:253–260
Dahlgren CP, Eggleston (2000) Ecological processes underlying ontogenetic habitat shifts in a coral reef fish. Ecology 81:2227–2240
Dahlgren CP, Kellison GT, Adams AJ et al (2006) Marine nurseries and effective juvenile habitats: concepts and applications. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 312:291–295
Dennis GD (1992) Island mangrove habitats as spawning and nursery areas for commercially important fishes in the Caribbean. Proc Gulf Caribb Fish Inst 41:205–225
Dorenbosch M, van Riel MC, Nagelkerken I et al (2004) The relationship of reef fish densities to the proximity of mangrove and seagrass nurseries. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 60:37–48
Dorenbosch M, Grol MGG, Christianen MJA et al (2005) Indo-Pacific seagrass beds and mangroves contribute to fish density and diversity on adjacent coral reefs. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 302:63–76
Dorenbosch M, Grol MGG, Nagelkerken I et al (2006) Seagrass beds and mangroves as potential nurseries for the threatened Indo-Pacific humphead wrasse, Cheilinus undulatus and Caribbean rainbow parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia. Biol Conserv 129:277–282
Dufrêne M, Legendre P (1997) Species assemblages and indicator species: the need for a flexible asymetrical approach. Ecol Monogr 67:345–366.
Eggleston, DB, Dahlgren C, Johnson EG (2004) Fish density, diversity and size-structure within multiple back-reef habitats of Key West National Wildlife Refuge, USA. Bull Mar Sci 75:175–204
Ewel KC, Twilley RR, Ong JE (1998) Different kinds of mangrove forests provide different goods and services. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 7:83–94
Faunce CH, Serafy JE (2006). Mangroves as fish habitat: 50 years of field studies. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 318:1–18
Faunce CH, Serafy JE (2007) Nearshore habitat use by gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus) and bluestriped grunt (Haemulon sciurus): environmental gradients and ontogenetic shifts. Bull Mar Sci 80:473–495
Faunce CH, Serafy JE (2008a) Growth and secondary production of an eventual reef fish during mangrove residency. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 79:93–100
Faunce CH, Serafy JE (2008b). Selective use of mangrove shorelines by snappers, grunts, and great barracuda. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 356:153–162
Faunce CH, Serafy JE, Lorenz JJ (2004) Density-habitat relationships of mangrove creek fishes within the southeastern saline Everglades (USA), with reference to managed freshwater releases. Wetlands Ecol Manage 12:377–394
Faunce CH, Ault E, Ferguson K et al (2007) Reproduction of four Florida snappers with comparisons between an island and continental reef system. In: Barbieri L Colvocoresses J (eds) Southeast Florida reef fish abundance and biology. Five-year performance report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, St. Petersburg
Gillanders BM (2002) Connectivity between juvenile and adult fish populations: do adults remain near their recruitment estuaries? Mar Ecol Prog Ser 240:215–223
Gillanders BM, Kingsford MJ (1996) Elements in otoliths may elucidate the contribution of estuarine recruitment to sustaining coastal reef populations of a temperate reef fish. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 141:13–20
Hajisamae S, Chou LM (2003) Do shallow water habitats of an impacted coastal strait serve as nursery grounds for fish? Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 56:281–290
Heyman, WD, Kjerfve B, Graham RT et al (2005) Spawning aggregations of Lutjanus cyanopterus (Cuvier) on the Belize Barrier Reef over a six year period. J Fish Biol 67:83–101
Hogarth, PJ 2007. The biology of mangroves and seagrasses. Oxford University Press, London
Koenig CC, Coleman FC, Eklund A et al (2007) Mangroves as essential nursery habitat for goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara). Bull Mar Sci 80:567–586
Krishnamurthy K, Jeyasslan MJP (1981) The early life history of fishes from Pichavaram mangrove ecosystem of India. In: Lasker R, Sherman K (eds) The early life history of fish: recent studies. The second ICES symposium. Conseil International Pour L’Exploration de la Mer Palegade 2–4, Copenhagen, Denmark
Layman CA, Quattrochi JP, Peyer CM et al (2007) Niche width collapse in a resilient top predator following ecosystem fragmentation. Ecol Lett 10:937–944
Ley JA (2005) Linking fish assemblages and attributes of mangrove estuaries in tropical Australia: criteria for regional marine reserves. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 305:41–57
Ley JA, McIvor CC, Montague CL (1999) Fishes in mangrove proproot habitats of northeastern Florida Bay: distinct assemblages across an estuarine gradient. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 48:701–723
Lewis RR (2005) Ecological engineering for successful management and restoration of mangrove forests. Ecol Eng 24:403–418
Lin HJ, Shao KT (1999) Seasonal and diel changes in a subtropical mangrove fish assemblage. Bull Mar Sci 65:775–794
Little MC, Reay PJ, Grove SJ (1988) Distribution gradients of ichthyoplankton in an East African mangrove creek. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 26:669–677
Loneragan NR, Bunn SE, Kellaway DM (1997) Are mangroves and seagrasses sources of organic carbon for penaeid prawns in a tropical Australian estuary? A multiple stable isotope study. Mar Biol 130:289–300
Lorenz JJ (1999) The response of fishes to physicochemical changes in the mangroves of northeast Florida Bay. Estuaries:500–517
Lugendo BR, Pronker A, Cornelissen I et al (2005) Habitat utilisation by juveniles of commercially important fish species in a marine embayment in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Aquat Living Resour 18:149–158
Lugendo BR, Nagelkerken I, Kruitwagen G et al (2007) Relative importance of mangroves as feeding habitat for fish: a comparison between mangrove habitats with different settings. Bull Mar Sci 80:497–512
Lugo AE, Snedaker SC (1974) The ecology of mangroves. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 5:39–64
Lugo AE (1980) Mangrove ecosystems: sucessional or steady state? Biotropica 12:65–72
Manson FJ, Loneragan NR, Skilleter GA et al (2005) An evaluation of the evidence for linkages between mangroves and fisheries: a synthesis of the literature and identification of research directions. Annu Rev Oceanogr Mar Biol 43:483–513
Mumby PJ, Edwards AJ, Arias-Gonzales JE et al (2004) Mangroves enhance the biomass of coral reef fish communities in the Caribbean. Nature 427:533–536
Nagelkerken I (2007) Are none-stuarine mangroves connected to coral reefs through fish migration? Bull Mar Sci 80:595–607
Nagelkerken I, Dorenbosch M, Verberk WCEP et al (2000a) Importance of shallow-water biotopes of a Caribbean bay for juvenile coral reef fishes: patterns in biotope association, community structure and spatial distribution. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 202:175–192
Nagelkerken I, van der Velde G, Gorissen MW et al (2000b) Importance of mangroves, seagrass beds and the shallow coral reef as a nursery for important coral reef fishes, using a visual census technique. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 51:31–44
Nagelkerken I, Dorenbosch M, Verberk WCEP et al (2000c) Day-night shifts of fishes between shallow-water biotopes of a Caribbean bay, with emphasis on the nocturnal feeding of Haemulidae and Lutjanidae. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 194:55–64
Nagelkerken I, Roberts CM, van der Velde G et al (2002) How important are mangroves and seagrass beds for coral-reef fish? The nursery hypothesis tested on an island scale. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 244:299–305
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service) (1996) Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, as amended through October 11, 1996. NOAA technical memorandum NMFS-F/SPO, 121pp.
Paris CB, Cowen RK, Claro R et al. (2005) Larval transport path-ways from Cuban snapper (Lutjanidae) spawning aggregations based on biophysical modeling. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 296:93–106
Parrish JD (1989) Fish communities of interacting shallow-water habitats in tropical oceanic regions. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 58:143–160
Provost MW (1973) Mean high water mark and use of tidelands in Florida. Fla Sci 36:50–66
Quinn NJ (1980) Analysis of temporal changes in fish assemblages in Serpentine Creek, Queensland. Environ Biol Fishes 5:117–133
Ricker WE (1975) Computation and interpretation of biological statistics of fish populations. Bull Canadian Fish Res Board 1–392
Robertson AI, Duke NC (1987) Mangroves as nursery sites: comparisons of the abundance and species composition of fish and crustaceans in mangroves and other nearshore habitats in tropical Australia. Mar Biol 96:193–205
Robertson AI, Duke NC (1990) Mangrove fish-communities in tropical Queensland, Australia: spatial and temporal patterns in densities, biomass and community structure. Mar Biol 104:369–379
Rönnbäck P, Troell M, Kautsky N et al (1999) Distribution pattern of shrimps and fish among Avicennia and Rhizophora microhabitats in the Pagbilao Mangroves, Philippines. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 48:223–234
Rooker JR, Dennis GD (1991) Diel, lunar and seasonal changes in a mangrove fish assemblage off southwestern Puerto Rico. Bull Mar Sci 49:684–698
Serafy JE, Araujo RJ (2007) First international symposium on mangroves as fish habitat – Preface. Bull Mar Sci 80:453–456
Serafy JE, Faunce CH, Lorenz JJ (2003) Mangrove shoreline fishes of Biscayne Bay, Florida. Bull Mar Sci 72:161–180
Serafy JE, Valle M, Faunce CH et al (2007) Species-specific patterns of fish abundance and size along a subtropical mangrove shoreline: an application the delta approach. Bull Mar Sci 80:609–624
Sheaves MJ (2001) Are there really few piscivorous fishes in shallow estuarine habitats? Mar Ecol Prog Ser 222:279–290
Sheridan P, Hays C (2003) Are mangroves nursery habitat for transient fishes and decapods? Wetlands 23:449–458
Spalding M, Blasco F, Field C (1997) World mangrove atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME), Okinawa
Szedlmayer ST, Schroepfer RL (2005) Longterm residence of red snapper on artificial reefs in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Trans Am Fish Soc 134:315–325
Thayer GW, Stuart HH, Kenworthy WJ et al (1978) Habitat values of salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses for aquatic organisms. In: Greeson PE, Clark JR, Clark JE (eds) Wetlands functions and values: the state of our understanding. American Water Resources Association, Washington DC
Thollot P, Kulbicki M (1988) Overlap between the fish fauna inventories of coral reefs, soft bottoms and mangroves in Saint-Vincent Bay (New Caledonia). In: Choat JH, Barnes D, Borowitzka MA et al (eds) Sixth International Coral Reef Symposium, Townsville
Valentine-Rose L, Layman CA, Arrington DA et al (2007) Habitat fragmentation decreases fish secondary production in Bahamian tidal creeks. Bull Mar Sci 80:863–877
Verweij MC, Nagelkerken I, de Graaff D et al (2006a) Structure, food and shade attract juvenile coral reef fish to mangrove and seagrass habitats: a field experiment. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 306:257–268
Verweij MC, Nagelkerken I, Wartenbergh SLJ et al (2006b) Caribbean mangroves and seagrass beds as daytime feeding habitats for juvenile French grunts, Haemulon flavolineatum. Mar Biol 149:1291–1299
Wassenberg TJ, Hill BJ (1993) Diet and feeding behaviour of juvenile and adult banana prawns (Penaeus merguiensis de Man) in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 94:287–295
Weng HT (1990) Fish in shallow areas in Moreton Bay, Queensland and factors affecting their distribution. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 30:569–578
Wolanski E, Mazda Y, Ridd P (1992) Mangrove hydrodynamics. In: Robertson AI, Alongi DM (eds) Tropical mangrove ecosystems. Coastal and Estuarine Studies 41. American Geophysical Union, Washington DC
Wolanski E, Sarenski J (1997) Larvae dispersion in coral reefs and mangroves. Am Sci 85:236–243
Woodroffe C (1992) Mangrove sediments and geomorphology. In: Robertson AI, Alongi DM (eds) Tropical mangrove ecosystems. Coastal and Estuarine Studies 41. American Geophysical Union, Washington DC
Yamashita Y, Otake T, Yamada H (2000) Relative contributions from exposed inshore and estuarine nursery grounds to the recruitment of stone flounder, Platichthys bicoloratus, estimated using otolith Sr:Ca ratios. Fish Oceanogr 9:316–327
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Faunce, C.H., Layman, C.A. (2009). Sources of Variation that Affect Perceived Nursery Function of Mangroves. In: Nagelkerken, I. (eds) Ecological Connectivity among Tropical Coastal Ecosystems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2406-0_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2406-0_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2405-3
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2406-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)