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Brazilian Marine Biodiversity Yara Schaeffer-Novelli Guilherme Moraes de Oliveira Abuchahla Gilberto Cintrón-Molero Editors Brazilian Mangroves and Salt Marshes Brazilian Marine Biodiversity SeriesEditor Alexander Turra, Unesco Chair for Ocean Sustainability, Oceanographic Institute andAdvancedStudiesInstitute,UniversityofSãoPaulo,SãoPaulo,Brazil The book series Brazilian Marine Biodiversity was designed to communicate to a broadandinternationalreadershipthediversifiedmarineandcoastalhabitatsalong thelargeBraziliancoast. * * * The diversity of marine habitats found in Brazil is astonishing and includes estuaries,coralreefs, rocky shores,sandybeaches,rhodolithbeds, mangroves, salt marshes,deep-seahabitats,vegetatedbottoms,andcontinentalshelf.Thesehabitats areaddressedfromanecosystemperspectiveacrosstheseries,andcharacterizedin termsofdistributionandpeculiaritiesalongtheBraziliancoast,recordsofrelevant species,andinformationontheprevailingstructuringecologicalandoceanographic processesgoverningbiodiversity. Theseriesalsopresentsananalysisoftheroleofbiodiversityandtheimportance of ecosystem services, and discusses the threats to each habitat, such as pollution, habitatloss,invasivespecies,overfishing,andglobalenvironmentalchanges.Con- servation efforts are also considered as well as gaps in scientific knowledge and science-policyinterface. ThisseriesisaninitiativeoftheUNESCOChairforOceanSustainability,hosted bytheOceanographicInstituteandtheAdvancedStudiesInstituteoftheUniversity ofSãoPaulo,withintheBrazilianNetworkforMonitoringCoastalBenthicHabitats (ReBentos),whichissupportedbytheBrazilianNationalCouncilforScientificand Technological Development (CNPq), the Research Program on Biodiversity Char- acterization, Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use of the São Paulo Research Foundation(BIOTA-FAPESP),theCoordinationfortheImprovementof Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the Brazilian Innovation Agency (FINEP). ReBentos is part of the Brazilian Network on Global Climate Change Research (Rede Clima) and the Science and Technology National Institute on Climate Changes (INCT Mudanças Climáticas) at the Ministry of Science, Tech- nology,andInnovation(MCTI). Yara Schaeffer-Novelli Guilherme Moraes de Oliveira Abuchahla Gilberto Cintrón-Molero Editors Brazilian Mangroves and Salt Marshes Editors YaraSchaeffer-Novelli GuilhermeMoraesdeOliveiraAbuchahla InstitutoOceanográfico LeibnizCentreforTropicalMarine UniversidadedeSãoPauloUSP Research(ZMT) SãoPaulo,SP,Brazil Bremen,Germany GilbertoCintrón-Molero InstitutoBiomaBrasil SãoPaulo,SP,Brazil ISSN2520-1077 ISSN2520-1085 (electronic) BrazilianMarineBiodiversity ISBN978-3-031-13485-2 ISBN978-3-031-13486-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13486-9 ©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2023 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthe materialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation, broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformation storageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublication doesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevant protectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this bookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsor theeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforany errorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Foreword Theseauthorsselectedanunusualexampletoexposetheirphilosophy.Tropicaland too unstable for most land uses and growing on mud too salty for even other vegetation, we come to the mangroves. Commonly located near busy seaports where they may be abandoned, leaving the authors whom I know and expect will request readers to join with compassion and conviction to save and conserve the mangrovesfortheirmanybenefitsforusall. FrankHowardWadsworth,inmemoriam DirectoroftheInstituteofTropical Forestry,USForestService(1942to 1978),InternationalInstituteofTropical Forestry,USDAForestService,San Juan,PuertoRico PuertoRico,2019 vii Preface The coast of Brazil was born from the tectonic divorce of Gondwanaland, but geomorphic forces and mangroves have acted over time to smooth out rifts and createsettingsthatinturntransformedthecoastandhidthemarksoftheseparation. Infact,thesmoothshoreline ofBrazil isthemanifestationofnature’sownhealing powerandself-organization that intheprocesscreates unexpectednovelty.Jagged rifting sediments and mangroves combined to create a coastline dominated by beaches, sheltered coastal lagoons, and estuaries that in turn have become habitats forlifethatthroughanimalmigrationshavetranshemisphericimportance. The study of mangroves covers a wide domain. For convenience, we have subdivided the book into parts that correspond roughly to levels of organization. JustlikeaRussiannestingdollorafractal,knowledgecomesinlayers,sowehave attemptedtopresentthoselayersaswellfromthelargestbroadestviewinfourparts. The first part, Tropical and Subtropical Brazilian Coastal Zone, introduces the reader alongthecoastline throughdifferentscalesofobservation.Forinstance, the term “mangrove” refers to individual trees or whole ecosystems. This apparent ambiguity reflects their scaleless fractal nature. They may occur as individuals, ecosystems,landscapes,andwholecoastsasinnorthernBrazil.Alongthecountry’s coastline,wemeetvarioustransformationsandlocalversionsofmangroveconsortia withlocalfactorstoenhancethediversityofthecoastitselfwhilecouplingwiththe continentalshelfandtheoffshoreecosystem.Here,weprovideacloserlookatthe responses of mangroves and salt marshes, where the reader can catch a glimpse of their secret, their ability to deal with extreme dynamism. The entire part ends up revisiting a 1990 perspective on broad generalizations based on rudimentary technology available at the time, now through modern tools and perspectives. This highlights the importance of how trained eyes and technology make for a great partnership. Not much changed through the decades in terms of interpretation, but thedepthofknowledgeprovidedforamuchbetterunderstandingandappreciation ofthecomplexityofnaturalprocessesandtheiropenness. PartII,TheMangroveEcosystem,tacklescoreprinciplesintheunderstandingof mangroves as individuals, populations, and communities. The power of keen ix x Preface observation is highlighted but the need for scope is identified as a requisite for detecting long-term trends and ascertaining possible responses to environmental changes aswellasestablishingphenological patterns of mangrove forests. Genetic and epigenetic studies provide clues on the orthogenesis of mangrove ecosystems, taking into consideration their importance as information processors and historical entities. Furthermore, other aspects of mangrove responses to the environment reflect the close link between species, ecosystem, and settings. We give special attentiontolitterfalldatafromallalongtheBraziliancoast,reflectingoncemorethe diversityandpotentialofourcoasttohostingandprovidingnewlife. The third part, Mangrove and Salt Marsh Associates, focuses on diverse organ- isms and communities that are essential aspects of ecosystem function. Generally overlookedbymangrovespecialistsduetoitsstructuralcomplexity,microorganism communitiesdrivegeochemicalcyclesandecosystemservices.Macroalgaecanalso be found in mangrove and salt marsh ecosystems along the entire coast; their temporal and spatial variability is driven by changes and fluctuations in environ- mentalfactorsdescribingsurvivalstrategiesthatinvolvetheproductionofadiverse array of bioactive compounds. Zooming out, meio- and macrofauna inhabit the usually low oxygen, highly saline sediment of mangroves and salt marshes. They are a set of silent but crucial actors that process organic matter and route it among multiple pathways. On the other side of the spectrum is the iconic community of Brachyuran crabs. Their roles span whole domains, ecological, social, and even hemispheric by supporting human societies andtrans-hemispheric migratorybirds. With effect, this is one of the most well-known study cases of ecological connec- tivity. The same is true for the ichthyofauna, which act as a bridge between the massive productivity in mangroves and salt marshes and the adjacent oligotrophic highseas.Last,butnotleast,wehighlighttheimportanceofflagshipspecies,suchas theAntilleanmanatee,asapowerfulecosystemconservationtool. Part IV, Conservation Strategies, deals with an emerging level of organization that is related to the integration of social and ecological processes to shape a new domain, that of an integrated social-ecological system (i.e., biogeocoenosis). Throughout Brazilian history, mangroves played an important role in the shaping ofthecoastline;initiallyperceivedasbarriersintheeyesofthearrivingEuropeans, they were nevertheless exploited in diverse ways, facilitating the establishment of coastalcities.Thisambiguityisamanifestationofthehumanecologicalshortsight- ednessthatcanonlybechangedbyblendingorlearningfromtraditionalandethnic practicesthatwereformedthroughcenturiesofcohabitation.Inthenationalcontext, specificextractivereserveprotectedareastaketraditionalcommunitiesintoconsid- eration, and the system that regulates them forms the backbone of the country’s conservation strategy. Among important conservation strategies, we highlight the importance of education for a citizen-driven, transformative practice. In the same way, we suggest that a setting-landscape perspective is the most effective way of perceiving mangrove and salt marsh ecosystems. These settings are both transformative and self-organizing through different scales in space and time, creating a densely woven fabric that can only be managed in an integrated fashion. The complexity emerging from this fabric breeds irreducible complexity related to the Preface xi outcomesofinterventions.Thissuggeststhatenvironmentalmanagementshouldbe multiscaleadaptivethroughdynamicframinginordertoachievecompatibilitywith thehierarchiccomplexitythatmanagingmangrovesandsaltmarshesrequire. Wehopeyouenjoythebookanddonotforgettogetyourfeetmuddyaswell! SãoPaulo,SP,Brazil YaraSchaeffer-Novelli SãoPaulo,SP,Brazil GilbertoCintrón-Molero Bremen,Germany GuilhermeMoraesdeOliveiraAbuchahla