Simon M. Cragg
This paper reviews information from a wide range of sources which relates to the process of wood breakdown in mangrove ecosystems. A high proportion of the standing biomass in mangrove forests consists of wood with a life-span and residence-time as litter much greater than that for leaves. Mangroves are subject to attack by terrestrial and marine organisms, but are protected by chemical and physical mechanisms. The marine organisms which exploit mangrove wood include ascomycete fungi, teredinid molluscs, isopod crustaceans and possibly bacteria. The input of wood inter in a mature mangrove forest is constant though locally patchy. In a forest which is colonising a bare substrate, wood litter input slowly increases from zero. In a managed forest, pulses of wood litter input occur with each thinning but the bulk of wood biomass is removed from the ecosystem. Teredinids process wood on the forest floor, converting it into products which can be transported by currents. Nitrogen-fixing cellulolytic bacteria live symbiotically in teredinids. Some of the nutrients and energy derived from wood are carried offshore by currents and through food-webs.