Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-7l9ct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-09T02:46:37.564Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - The invasion of terrestrial fauna into marine habitat: birds in mangroves

from Part I - Ancient invaders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2014

By
David Luther
Edited by
Herbert H. T. Prins  and
Iain J. Gordon
David Luther
Affiliation:
George Mason University
Herbert H. T. Prins
Affiliation:
Wageningen Universiteit, The Netherlands
Iain J. Gordon
Affiliation:
The James Hutton Institute, Scotland
Get access

Summary

Mangroves are woody plants that occur at the land and sea interface and inhabit the upper intertidal zones of saltwater areas, primarily in tropical and subtropical regions (Tomlinson 1986; Hutchings and Saenger 1987). Since mangrove forests are an ecotone between terrestrial and marine realms, they have both vegetative strata that are similar to many inland terrestrial ecosystems as well as an intertidal benthic component that is representative of the marine environment. As such, mangroves exhibit a very steep gradient from fresh to saline water (Mitsch and Gosselink 2000). The combination of terrestrial and marine environments occurring within mangrove forests can present many difficulties, in terms of abiotic stressors, such as salt water instead of fresh water and twice daily tidal inundations, for terrestrial species attempting to colonise this habitat (Mitsch and Gosselink 2000; Luther and Greenberg 2009). Salt water could present physiological challenges for some species and high tides could present challenges for ground-nesting and terrestrial species that prefer dry land to aquatic systems. Finally, competition or predation from estuarine and marine species has the potential to inhibit the colonisation of mangrove ecosystems by some terrestrial species. The aforementioned abiotic and biotic stressors could prevent some terrestrial species from invading mangrove habitats, which makes mangroves an excellent system in which to investigate the biological invasion of species into novel habitats.

Based on floral species composition, mangroves occur in two distinct biogeographical regions, the Indo-West Pacific and the Atlantic–Caribbean–East Pacific. These regions can be further subdivided into six distinct subregions: Eastern Pacific, West Atlantic–Caribbean, West African, East African, Indo-Malaysian and Australian (Duke 1992) (see Figure 6.1). The subregions of Australia and Indio-Malaysia have more than twice as many mangrove tree species as any other subregion (Duke 1992). Mangrove forests are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world with ample food resources for both marine and terrestrial animals (Mitsch and Gosselink 2000). However, mangroves are also cited as extremely depauparate of biodiversity when compared to other habitats (Tomlinson 1986; Hutchings and Saenger 1987; Hogarth 2007).

Type
Chapter
Information
Invasion Biology and Ecological Theory
Insights from a Continent in Transformation
 , pp. 103 - 117
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Cade, T. J. and Bartholomew, G. A. (1959). Seawater and salt utilization by savannah sparrows. Physiological Zoology 32: 230–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conner, E. F. and Simberloff, D. (1979). The assembly of species communities; chance or competition?Ecology 60: 1132–1140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duke, N. C. (1992). Mangrove floristics and biogeography. In Robertson, A. I. and Alongi, D. M. (eds), Tropical Mangrove Ecosystems. Washington DC: American Geophysical Union, pp. 63–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunson, W. A. (1980). The relationship of sodium and water balance to survival in sea water of estuarine and freshwater races of the snakes Nerodia fasciata, N. sipedon, and N. valida. Copeia 1980: 268–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, J. (1982). Origin, evolution, and speciation of birds specialized to mangroves in Australia. Emu 82: 12–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, D. L. (2006). Osmoregulatory biology of saltmarsh passerines. Studies in Avian Biology 32: 110–118.Google Scholar
Gotelli, N. J. and McCabe, D. J. (2002). Species co-occurrence: a meta-analysis of J. M. Diamond’s assembly rules. Ecology 83: 2091–2096.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, R. and Marra, P. P., eds (2005). Birds of Two Worlds: The Ecology and Evolution of Migration. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Greenberg, R., Maldonado, J. E., and McDonald, M. V.. (2006). Tidal marshes: a global perspective on the evolution and conservation of their terrestrial vertebrates. Bioscience 56: 675–685.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogarth, P. J. (2007). The Biology of Mangroves and Seagrasses. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchings, P. and Saenger, P. (1987). Ecology of Mangroves. St Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland Press.Google Scholar
Johnstone, R. E. (1990). Mangroves and Mangrove Birds of Western Australia. Perth, Australia: Western Australian Museum.Google Scholar
Ladeau, S., Kilpatrick, L. A. M. and Marra, P. P. (2007). West Nile virus emergence and large-scale declines of North American bird populations. Nature 447: 710–713.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lefebvre, G. and Poulin, B. (1997). Bird communities in Panamanian black mangroves: potential effects of physical and biotic factors. Journal of Tropical Ecology 13: 97–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lefebvre, G. and Poulin, B. (2000). Determinants of avian diversity in neotropical mangrove forests. In Gopal, B., Junk, W. J. and Davis, J. A. (eds), Biodiversity in Wetlands. 1: Assessment, Function and Conservation. Leiden, The Netherlands: Backhuys Publishers, pp. 161–179.Google Scholar
Lefebvre, G., Poulin, B. and McNeil, R. (1992). Abundance, feeding behavior, and body condition of nearctic warblers wintering in Venezuelan mangroves. Wilson Bulletin 104: 400–412.Google Scholar
Luther, D. A. and Greenberg, R. (2009). Mangroves: a global perspective on the evolution and conservation of their terrestrial vertebrates. BioScience 59: 602–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luther, D. A. and Greenberg, R. (2011). The island syndrome in coastal wetland ecosystems: convergent evolution of large bills in mangrove passerines. The Auk 128: 201–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinez, C. (2010). Trophic niche breadth and overlap of three egret species in a neotropical mangrove swamp. Waterbirds 33: 285–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitsch, W. J. and Gosselink, J. G. (2000). Wetlands, 3rd edn. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Mohd-Azlan, J. and Lawes, M. J.. (2011). The effect of the surrounding landscape matrix on mangrove bird community assembly in north Australia. Biological Conservation 144: 2134–2141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nisbet, I. C. T. (1968). The utilization of mangroves by Malayan birds. Ibis 110: 348–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noske, R. A. (1995). Ecology of mangrove forest birds in Peninsular Malaysia. Ibis 137: 250–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noske, R. A. (1996). Abundance, zonation, and foraging ecology of birds in mangroves of Darwin harbour, Northern Territory. Wildlife Research 23: 443–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noske, R. A. (2001). The nesting biology of the mangrove gerygone Gerygone laevigaster in the Darwin region, with notes on brood parasitism by the little bronze-cuckoo Chrysococcyx minutillus. Emu 101: 129–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noske, R. A. (2003). The role of birds in mangroves – pollination and insect predation. In Working Group for the Darwin Harbour Advisory Committee. Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment (eds), Proceedings: Darwin Harbour Region: Current Knowledge and Future Needs. Darwin, Australia: Darwin Harbour Advisory Committee, pp. 74–86.Google Scholar
Noske, R. A. and Franklin, D. (1999). Breeding seasons of land birds in the Australian monsoon tropics: diverse responses to a highly seasonal environment. Australian Biologist 12: 72–90.Google Scholar
Noske, R. A., Fischer, S. and Brook, B. W. (2008). Artificial nest predation rates vary among habitats in the Australian monsoon tropics. Ecological Research 23: 519–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, S. (1997). Towards a less imperfect understanding of the systematics and biogeography of the Clapper and King rail complex (Rallus longirostris and R. elegans). In Dickerman, R. W. (ed.) The Era of Allan R. Phillips: A Festschrift. Albuquerque, NM: Museum of Southwestern Biology, pp. 93–111.Google Scholar
Reid, N. (1991). Coevolution of mistletoes and frugivorous birds. Australian Journal of Ecology 16: 457–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schodde, R., Mason, I. J. and Gill, H. B. (1982). The avifauna of Australian mangroves: a brief review of composition, structure and origin. In Clough, B F. (ed.), Mangrove Ecosystems in Australia: Structure, Function, and Management. Canberra, Australia: Australian Institute of Marine Science and Australian National University Press, pp. 141–150.Google Scholar
Tomlinson, P. B. (1986). The Botany of Mangroves. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
van Riper, C., van Riper, S. G., Goff, M. L. and Laird, M. (1986). The epizootiology and ecological significance of malaria in Hawaiian land birds. Ecological Monographs 56: 327–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, P. (1968). Origins of the avifauna of urban and suburban Singapore. Ibis 110: 239–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiancko, E., Nol, E.., Parada, A. and Burke, D. M. (2010). Landbird richness and abundance in three coastal habitats near resorts in Cayo Coco, Cuba. The Condor 113: 41–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Withers, P. C. (1992). Comparative Animal Physiology. New York: Saunders College Publishing.Google Scholar
Woinarski, J. C. Z., Tidemann, S. C. and Kerin, S. (1988). Birds in a tropical mosaic: the distribution of bird species in relation to vegetation patterns. Wildlife Research 15: 171–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×