Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Mangrove Forest and Soil Development on a Rapidly Accreting Shore in New Zealand

  • Published:
Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mangrove forests are rapidly expanding their distribution in New Zealand, which is at the southern limit of their range. We investigated how these expanding mangrove forests develop through time. We assessed patterns in forest structure and function at the Firth of Thames, which is a rapidly accreting mangrove site in New Zealand where 1 km of mangrove of Avicennia marina has established seaward since the 1950s. Across the intertidal region, mangrove forest structure was highly variable. We used bomb-pulse radiocarbon dating to age the forest. Two major forest establishment events were identified; one in 1978–1981 and another in 1991–1995. These events coincided with sustained El Niño activity and are likely the result of reduced wind and wave energy at the site during these periods. We used the two forests of different ages to assess whether mangroves in New Zealand mature at similar rates as other mangroves and whether they conform to classic models of succession. The timing of forest maturation is similar in New Zealand as in more tropical locations with trees exhibiting features of mature forests as they age from about 10 to about 30 years. In older forest (~30 years old) trees become larger and stands more homogenous than in the younger forest (~10 years old). Carbon and nutrient concentrations in soils increased and soils become more aerobic in older forest compared to younger forest. Additionally, using fertilization experiments, we established that despite reduced growth rates in older forests, nitrogen remained limiting to growth in both older and young forests. However, in contrast to classic successional models leaf tissue nutrient concentrations and nutrient conservation (nutrient resorption from senescence leaf tissue) were similar in forests of differing ages and did not vary with fertilization. We conclude that mangrove forest expansion in New Zealand is influenced by climatic factors. Mangrove forests mature rapidly, even at the limits of their range and they satisfy many of the successional patterns predicted by Odum (1969) for the early stages of forest succession.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aber JD, Reich PB, Goulden MI. 1996. Extrapolating leaf CO2 exchange to the canopy: a generalized model of forest photosynthesis validated by eddy correlation. Oecologia 106:257–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alongi DM. 2009. The energetics of mangrove forests. New York: Springer Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alongi DM, Sasekumar A, Tirendi F, Dixon P. 1998. The influence of stand age on benthic decomposition and recycling of organic matter in managed mangrove forests of Malaysia. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 225:197–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alongi DM, Trott LA, Rachmansyah B, Tirendi F, McKinnon AD, Undu MC. 2008. Growth and development of mangrove forests overlying smothered coral reefs, Sulawesi and Sumatra, Indonesia. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 370:97–109.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ball T, Smith KA, Moncrieff JB. 2007. Effect of stand age on greenhouse gas fluxes from a Sitka spruce [Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.] chronosequence on a peaty gley soil. Glob Chang Biol 13:2128–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basher RE. 1998. The 1997/98 El Niño event: impacts, responses and outlook for New Zealand. Report No. 73. Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, Wellington.

  • Berger U, Adams M, Grimm V, Hildenbrandt H. 2006. Modeling secondary succession of neotropical mangroves: causes and consequences of growth reduction in pioneer species. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 7:243–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns BR, Ogden J. 1985. The demography of the temperate mangrove (Avicennia marinae (Forsk.) Vierh.) at its southern limit in New Zealand. Aust J Ecol 10:125–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS III. 2003. Effects of plant traits on ecosystem and regional processes: a conceptual framework for predicting the consequences of global change. Ann Bot 91:455–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS, Van Cleve K. 1989. Approaches to studying nutrient uptake, use and loss in plants. In: Pearcy RW, Ehleringer JR, Mooney HA, Rundel PW, Eds. Plant physiological ecology field methods and instrumentation. New York: Chapman and Hall. p 185–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapman VJ. 1976. Mangrove vegetation. Germany: J. Cramer Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen R, Twilley RR. 1998. A simulation model of organic matter and nutrient accumulation in mangrove wetland soils. Biogeochemistry 44:93–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chmura GL, Anisfeld SC, Cahoon DR, Lynch JC. 2003. Global carbon sequestration in tidal, saline wetland soils. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 17:1111–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cintrón G, Schaffer-Novelli Y. 1984. Methods for studying mangrove structures. In: Saenger SC, Snedaker JG, Eds. The mangrove ecosystem: research methods. UNESCO monographs in oceanographic methodology, vol 8. Paris: UNESCO. p 91–113.

  • Comley BWT, McGuinness KA. 2005. Above- and below-ground biomass, and allometry of four common northern Australian mangroves. Aust J Bot 53:431–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crane MA. 2005. The evolution of El Niño, past and future. Earth Planet Sci Lett 230:227–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crews TE, Kitayama K, Fownes JH, Riley RH, Herbert DA, Mueller-Dombois D, Vitousek PM. 1995. Changes in soil phosphorus fractions and ecosystem dynamics across a long chronosequence in Hawaii. Ecology 76:1407–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Lange WP, de Lange PJ. 1994. An appraisal of factors controlling the latitudinal distribution of mangrove (Aviennia marina var. resinifera) in New Zealand. J Coast Res 10:539–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis J, Nicholls P, Craggs R, Hofstra D, Hewitt J. 2004. Effects of terrigenous sedimentation on mangrove physiology and associated macrobenthic communities. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 270:71–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellison AM. 2000. Mangrove restoration: do we know enough. Restoration Ecol 8:219–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elser JJ, Sterner RW, Gorokhova E, Fagan WF, Markow TA, Cotner JB. 2000. Biological stoichiometry from genes to ecosystems. Ecol Lett 3:540–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enquist BJ. 2003. Cope’s rule and the evolution of long-distance transport in vascular plants: allometric scaling, biomass partitioning and optimization. Plant Cell Environ 26:151–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feller IC. 1995. Effects of nutrient enrichment on growth and herbivory of dwarf red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle). Ecol Monogr 65:477–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fink D, Hotchkis M, Hua Q, Jacobsen G, Smith AM, Zoppi U, Child D, Mifsud C, van der Gaast H, Williams A, Williams M. 2004. The ANTARES AMS facility at ANSTO. Nucl Instr Meth Phys Res B 223–224:109–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fromard F, Puig H, Mougin E, Marty G, Bertoulle JL, Cadamuro L. 1998. Structure, above-ground biomass and dynamics of mangrove ecosystems: new data from French Guiana. Oecologia 115:39–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fromard F, Vega C, Proisy C. 2004. Half a century of dynamic coastal change affecting mangrove shorelines of French Guiana. A case study based on remote sensing data analysis and field surveys. Mar Geol 208:265–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gergis JI, Fowler AM. 2009. A history of ENSO events since A.D. 1525: implications for future climate change. Clim Chang 92:343–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong WK, Ong JE. 1995. The use of demographic studies in mangrove silviculture. Hydrobiologia 295:255–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guariguata MR, Ostertag R. 2001. Neotropical secondary forest succession: changes in structural and functional characteristics. For Ecol Manag 148:185–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Healy T. 2002. Muddy coasts of mid-latitude oceanic islands on an active plate margin—New Zealand. In: Healy T, Yang J-A, Eds. Muddy coasts of the world: processes, deposits and function. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p 347–74.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hicks DM, Quinn J, Trustrum N. 2004. Stream sediment load and organic matter. In: Harding J, Mosley P, Pearson C, Sorrell B, Eds. Freshwaters of New Zealand, New Zealand Hydrological and New Zealand Limnological Society. Christchurch, NZ: The Caxton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hua Q, Barbetti M. 2004. Review of tropospheric bomb radiocarbon data for carbon cycle modelling and age calibration purposes. Radiocarbon 46:1273–98.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hua Q, Jacobsen GE, Zoppi U, Lawson EM, Williams AA, Smith AM, McGann MJ. 2001. Progress in radiocarbon target preparation at the ANTARES AMS Centre. Radiocarbon 43:275–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hua Q, Barbetti M, Zoppi U, Fink D, Watanasak M, Jacobsen GE. 2004. Radiocarbon in tropical tree rings during the Little Ice Age. Nucl Instr Meth Phys Res B 223–224:489–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jimenez JA, Lugo AE. 1985. Tree mortality in mangrove forests. Biotropica 17:177–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambs L, Muller E, Fromard F. 2008. Mangrove trees growing in a very saline condition but not using seawater. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 22:2835–43.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lovelock CE. 2008. Soil respiration and belowground carbon allocation in mangrove forests. Ecosystems 11:342–54.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lovelock CE, Feller IC, McKee KL, Thompson R. 2005. Variation in mangrove forest structure and sediment characteristics in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Caribb J Sci 41:456–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovelock CE, Feller IC, Ball MC, Ellis J, Sorrell B. 2007a. Testing the growth rate vs. geochemical hypothesis for latitudinal variation in plant nutrients. Ecol Lett 10:1154–63.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lovelock CE, Feller IC, Ellis J, Schwarz AM, Hancock N, Nichols P, Sorrell B. 2007b. Mangrove growth in New Zealand estuaries: the role of nutrient enrichment at sites with contrasting rates of sedimentation. Oecologia 153:633–41.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lugo AE. 1980. Mangrove ecosystems: successional or steady state? Biotropica 12(Suppl):65–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marchand C, Lallier-Verge E, Baltzer F. 2003. The composition of sedimentary organic matter in relation to the dynamic features of a mangrove-fringed coast in French Guiana. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 56:119–30.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McKee KL. 1995. Seedling recruitment patterns in a Belizean mangrove forest: effects of establishment ability and physico-chemical factors. Oecologia 101:448–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mckee KL, Faulkner PD. 2000. Biogeochemical functioning of restored and natural mangrove forests in southwest Florida, USA. Restor Ecol 8:247–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKee KL, Mendelssohn IA, Hester MW. 1988. Re-examination of pore water sulfide concentrations and redox potentials near the aerial roots of Rhizophora mangle and Avicennia germinans. Am J Bot 75:1352–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menge DNL, Hedin LO. 2009. Nitrogen fixation in different biogeochemical niches along a 120 000-year chronosequence in New Zealand. Ecology 90:2190–201.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morrisey DJ, Skilleter GA, Ellis JI, Burns BR, Kemp CE, Burt K. 2003. Differences in benthic fauna and sediment among mangrove (Avicennia marina var australasica) stands of different ages in New Zealand. Estaur Coast Shelf Sci 56:581–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odum EP. 1969. The strategy of ecosystem development. Science 164:262–70.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paul KI, Polglase PJ, Nyakuengama JG, Khanna PK. 2002. Change in soil carbon following afforestation. For Ecol Manag 168:241–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piou C, Feller IC, Berger U, Chi F. 2006. Zonation patterns of Belizean offshore mangrove forests 41 years after a catastrophic hurricane. Biotropica 38:365–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pregitzer KS, Euskirchen ES. 2004. Carbon cycling and storage in world forests: biome patterns related to forest age. Glob Chang Biol 10:1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Tufekcioglu A. 2000. Vegetation and soil respiration: correlations and controls. Biogeochemistry 48:71–90.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Redfield AC. 1958. The biological control of chemical factors in the environment. Am Sci 46:205–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reimer PJ, Brown TA, Reimer RW. 2004. Discussion: reporting and calibration of post-bomb 14C data. Radiocarbon 46:1299–304.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson SJ, Peltzer DA, Allen RB, McGlone MS, Parfitt RL. 2004. Rapid development of phosphorus limitation in temperate rainforest along the Franz Josef soil chronosequence. Oecologia 139:267–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ross MS, Ruiz RL, Sah JP, Hanan EJ. 2009. Chilling damage in a changing climate in coastal landscapes of the subtropical zone: a case study from south Florida. Glob Chang Biol 15:1817–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruess RW, Hendrick RL, Burton AJ, Pregitzer KS, Sveinbjornsson B, Allen MF, Maurer G. 2003. Coupling fine root dynamics with ecosystem carbon cycling in black spruce forests of interior Alaska. Ecol Monogr 74:643–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan MG, Law B. 2005. Interpretting, measuring and modelling soil respiration. Biogeochemistry 73:3–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saenger P, Snedaker SC. 1993. Pan tropical trends in mangrove above-ground biomass and annual litter fall. Oecologia 96:293–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saiz G, Byrne KA, Butterbach-Bahl K, Kiese R, Blujdea V, Farrell EP. 2006. Stand age-related effects on soil respiration in a first rotation Sitka spruce chronosequence in central Ireland. Glob Chang Biol 12:1007–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith TJ III. 1992. Forest structure. In: Robertson AI, Alongi DM, Eds. Tropical mangrove ecosystems, coastal and estuarine studies, 41. Washington (DC): American Geophysical Union. p 101–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith TJ III, Robblee MB, Wanless HR, Doyle TW. 1994. Mangroves, hurricanes, and lightning strikes. BioScience 44:256–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stuart SA, Choat B, Martin KC, Holbrook NM, Ball MC. 2007. The role of freezing in setting the latitudinal limits of mangrove forests. New Phytol 173:576–83.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Swales A, Bentley SJ, Lovelock CE, Bell RG. 2007. Sediment processes and mangrove-habitat expansion on a rapidly-prograding muddy coast, New Zealand. Proceedings of the sixth international symposium on coastal engineering and science of coastal sediment processes (New Orleans, May 2007). Coastal sediments ’07, vol 2, p 1441–54.

  • Thom BG. 1982. Mangrove ecology: a geomorphological perspective. In: Clough BF, Ed. Mangrove ecosystems in Australia, structure, function and management. Canberra (ACT): Australian National University. p 3–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thuille A, Buchmann N, Schulze E-D. 2000. Carbon stocks and soil respiration rates during deforestation, grassland use and subsequent Norway spruce afforestation in the Southern Alps, Italy. Tree Physiol 20:849–57.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Twilley RR, Chen R, Hargis T. 1992. Carbon sinks in mangroves and their implication to carbon budgets of tropical ecosystems. Water Air Soil Pollut 64:265–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Twilley RR, Rivera-Monroy VH, Chen R, Botero L. 1998. Adapting an ecological model to simulate trajectories in restoration ecology. Mar Pollut Bull 37:404–19.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Walker LR, Whiteaker LD, Matson PA. 1993. Nutrient limitation to plant growth during primary succession in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Biogeochemistry 23:197–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wardle DA, Walker LR, Bardgett RD. 2004. Ecostystem properties and forest decline in contrasting long-term chronosequences. Science 305:509–13.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woodroffe CD. 1990. The impact of sea-level rise on mangrove shorelines. Prog Phys Geogr 14:483–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young BM, Harvey LE. 1996. A spatial analysis of the relationship between mangrove (Avicennia marina var. australasica) physiognomy and sediment accretion in the Hauraki Plains, New Zealand. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 42:231–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Funding was provided from the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (CO1X0307) and by the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering for AMS 14C measurements (AINSE Grant #07/175).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Centre for Marine Studies, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    Catherine E. Lovelock

  2. The School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    Catherine E. Lovelock

  3. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Science, P.O. Box 11-115, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Brian K. Sorrell, Nicole Hancock & Andrew Swales

  4. Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), PMB 1, Menai, New South Wales, 2234, Australia

    Brian K. Sorrell & Quan Hua

Authors
  1. Catherine E. Lovelock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Brian K. Sorrell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nicole Hancock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Quan Hua
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Andrew Swales
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Catherine E. Lovelock.

Additional information

Author Contributions

CEL, BS, and AS designed the study. All authors performed components of the research. CEL analysed the data. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the data and the writing of the paper.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lovelock, C.E., Sorrell, B.K., Hancock, N. et al. Mangrove Forest and Soil Development on a Rapidly Accreting Shore in New Zealand. Ecosystems 13, 437–451 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-010-9329-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-010-9329-2

Key words

Search

Navigation