Project Summary

Mangroves, trees found in saline and brackish water throughout the tropics and subtropics, provide many ecosystem services. However, mangroves have been rapidly declining mostly due to anthropogenic stressors. In order to mitigate mangrove decline, it is essential to learn how efficiently they grow under different environmental stressors. This is crucial to understanding where to grow and transplant mangroves, and how to conserve existing forests. I am researching the Avicennia germinans, a North American mangrove species found in areas like Florida and Louisiana. It has previously been found that iron is an important nutrient for mangroves, and that the Avicennia germinans (black mangroves) grow better in areas with high light availability. However, it is possible that nutrients are ineffective for mangroves with low light. Since their photosynthetic productivity simultaneously depends on the preferred thresholds of iron and light, it is important to see how these two variables act together for optimal growth. I am growing my mangroves at the Stony Point Center in a hoophouse, using shade cloths and iron fertilizers for my treatments, and I will be looking at stem height, diameter, leaf number and colors, number of nodes, biomass, and root-shoot ratio to determine the correlations between iron and light, and photosynthetic productivity in the black mangrove. The data collected will add to the growing body of knowledge on environmental drivers for mangrove growth and the interactive effects of light and nutrients. These conclusions will aid in taking action for effective mangrove conservation.