TY - JOUR
T1 - Stunted Mangrove Trees in the Oligotrophic Central Red Sea Relate to Nitrogen Limitation
AU - Anton Gamazo, Andrea
AU - Almahasheer, Hanan
AU - Delgado, Antonio
AU - Garcias-Bonet, Neus
AU - Carrillo-de-Albornoz, Paloma
AU - Marbà, Núria
AU - Hendriks, Iris Eline
AU - Krause-Jensen, Dorte
AU - Saderne, Vincent
AU - Baldry, Kimberlee
AU - Duarte, Carlos M.
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: We thank Vijayalaxmi Dasari, Isidora Mendia Saez de Zuazola, Mongi Ennasri, Joao Curdia, and Arsenio Granados for support in the laboratory analyses, Brian Hession, CMOR, and the RV Thuwal crew for logistical support, and Nathan Geraldi for comments on early drafts of the manuscript. Funding. This research was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology through baseline funding and funds by the Tarek Ahmed Juffali Research Chair in Red Sea Ecology to CD.
PY - 2020/7/31
Y1 - 2020/7/31
N2 - Mangroves are important coastal ecosystems of warm climatic regions that often grow in shallow saline or brackish waters of estuaries and river mouths which are affected by wide tidal intervals and receive abundant nutrient supply. However, mangroves also occur in areas of little tidal influence and devoid of riverine inputs, where they can develop a stunted plant form. Here we report that Avicennia marina trees in the fringe of the Red Sea have maximum heights toward the lower range of that reported elsewhere (average maximum canopy height of 4.95 m), especially in the central region, where mangroves are stunted with an average tree height of 2.7 m. Maximum tree height and chlorophyll a concentration correlated positively with nitrogen concentration in the leaves of A. marina. We conclude that the stunted nature of mangrove trees in the central Red Sea is likely driven by nitrogen limitation.
AB - Mangroves are important coastal ecosystems of warm climatic regions that often grow in shallow saline or brackish waters of estuaries and river mouths which are affected by wide tidal intervals and receive abundant nutrient supply. However, mangroves also occur in areas of little tidal influence and devoid of riverine inputs, where they can develop a stunted plant form. Here we report that Avicennia marina trees in the fringe of the Red Sea have maximum heights toward the lower range of that reported elsewhere (average maximum canopy height of 4.95 m), especially in the central region, where mangroves are stunted with an average tree height of 2.7 m. Maximum tree height and chlorophyll a concentration correlated positively with nitrogen concentration in the leaves of A. marina. We conclude that the stunted nature of mangrove trees in the central Red Sea is likely driven by nitrogen limitation.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/664952
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2020.00597/full
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089484339&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2020.00597
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2020.00597
M3 - Article
SN - 2296-7745
VL - 7
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
ER -