BIOdiversity and ecosystem functioning of MANgroves in French Guiana: prospects for ecOsystem management in the Amazonian system

Informations

Funding country

France

Acronym

BIOMANGO

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2013

End date

-

Budget

270,000 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

Mangrove forests are highly productive coastal ecosystems and stimulate carbon and nutrient cycles in coastal areas. Mangroves play a key role in the functioning of coastal ecosystems and provide ecological services and socio-economic irreplaceable value. Benthic biodiversity plays a key role in stimulating and maintaining this productivity through the activities of bioturbation. Mangroves are set to disappear with human pressure and climate change. In French Guiana (FG), mangroves are subjected and adapted to recurring sedimentary disturbances along the coast of Guiana due to the massive sediment supply from the Amazon. Five mangrove facies are established: emergent mud bank, mangrove pioneer, young forest, mature forest, forest senescent. Adult mangroves stabilize the coast but during mud bank erosive phases, forests are destroyed. During the accretion phase of mud banks, mangroves are able to develop very rapidly and are characterized by high productivity. The first data acquired on the benthic system indicate that mangroves are adapted to these phases of stability and instability; pioneer species in high density occur in unstable sediments with low species richness. Current studies in ecology show that the productivity of an ecosystem (respiration, primary production, mineralization capacity) is not dependent on its species richness but on functional richness, which in benthic systems can be represented by key functional groups of bioturbating organisms. The role of benthos and associated bioturbation activity on the productivity of mangroves in French Guiana is still unknown. Given the high productivity of mangroves in French Guiana and solid basic background knowledge of the environment, studies on the relationships of biodiversity to ecosystem functioning must now be addressed. The resilience of mangroves in French Guiana is a key to the structuring and functioning of the ecosystem and must be fully understood to develop a strategy for management and conservation of the coastline in this environment still only minimally disturbed by human activity. The project BIOMANGO proposes to define the basis for resilience by studying: 1) in situ spatio-temporal variability of benthic biodiversity (microphytobenthos and fauna) in response to biotic and abiotic factors, 2) in situ spatio-temporal variability of biogeochemical fluxes corresponding to the different stages of the mangrove development and associated benthic biodiversity, and 3) in vitro role of the impact of bioturbation functional diversity on ecosystem functions. The project BIOMANGO will use multidisciplinary approach and methods to test for possible relationships between benthic biodiversity and productivity of mangroves. Specific scenarios will be evaluated based on the initial observations of the project. The final results will establish a baseline of functioning of mangrove ecosystems of FG, which will reveal ecosystem services that may be lost under the increasing human pressure (i.e., case of oil pollution). BIOMANGO will fuel both theoretical and management models to understand the relationship between biodiversity and functioning of mangrove ecosystems. The study area chosen is known to be difficult to access, and the logistics are already coordinated. The implementation of this project will be enhanced by national and international collaboration (NSF) within the same study area, including the coordinators involved in BIOMANGO. The results of this project will not simply be disseminated through traditional scientific publications, but also through educational workshops offered at French schools in collaboration with an innovative team skilled in scientific communication.