Climate Change Impacts on the Ecosystem Functions and Services of Mangrove Forests

Dear Colleagues,

Mangroves are both economically and ecologically important, covering 70% of the tropical and subtropical sheltered coastlines. They provide many critical ecological functions and ecosystem services, including coastal protection, habitat provision, biodiversity support, food security, tourism and recreation. Recent scientific advances have showed that mangrove forests represent important carbon sinks and are able to serve as the natural solution to global greenhouse effects and contribute mitigation effort to climate change. However, mangroves have been extensively eliminated by human-induced habitat destruction and deforestation, inland hydrological alteration, and pollution in recent decades. If such exploitation of mangroves is uncontrolled, it will result in rapid decrease in abundance and diversity of mangroves and subsequently leading to permanent loss in biodiversity and many ecosystem services. Moreover, mangrove ecosystems are continuously affected by the catastrophic climate changes, such as rise in sea levels, temperature and atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Clearly, there is a pressing need for effective conservation, restoration and management of mangrove ecosystems for the battle against climate change and the sustainable future of nature and humans. The patterns and processes, and mechanisms of how mangrove ecosystem structures, functions and services respond to climate changes and various human impacts need to be better understood to enable the precise prediction of changes in ecological functions and ecosystems services of mangroves in the future. We encourage studies from all fields, including experimental studies, monitoring approaches and models, to contribute to this Special Issue in order to promote knowledge and adaptation strategies for the preservation, management, and future development of mangrove forest ecosystems.

Prof. Dr. Chih-Yu Chiu
Prof. Dr. Hsing-Juh Lin
Guest Editors

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