- Results of studying mangrove reactions to rising sea levels:
- “…the spectral signature of the mangrove canopy in LANDSAT images increased significantly between 1986 and 2001 (Fig. 1 and Table 1). The net increase concentrates mostly in the landward fringe, where the mangrove forest meets the desert. During the two decades of the study period, a significant area of salt flats became colonized by new mangrove growth”(146).
- “During the last two decades, the area covered by mangrove canopies has increased in Magdalena Bay by more than 20%”(148).
- Concerns:
- “An area occupied by new-growth mangrove saplings may have a canopy spectral signature similar to that of a mature forest, but ecologically it does not have the complexity of an old-growth stand. At the same time, many areas of fringe mangrove have been suffering considerable loss (Whitmore et al. 2005) as a result of forest clearing (deforestation), dredging, sedimentation, increased wave action from motorboats (coastal development) and, as this paper now shows, also as a result of increased sea-levels (climate change)”(149).
- “The on-going colonization by small black mangrove saplings in the landward part of the tidal flats does not necessarily compensate for the loss of old-growth mangrove forest in the seaward fringe” (150).