BACKGROUND Deforestation is one of the most ubiquitous forms of land degradation worldwide. Although remote sensing and aerial photographs can supply valuable information on land/use cover changes, they may not regularly be available for some tropical coasts (e.g., Cameroon estuary) where cloud cover is frequent. With respect to mangroves, researchers are now employing local knowledge as an alt...

Plant community composition can impact ecosystem processes via litter feedbacks. Species variation in litter quality may generate diff erent patterns of nutrient supply for plants that are dependent on litter inputs. However, it is not known whether plants grow faster in their own litter, litter from other species, or in litter mixtures from multiple species. To test whether litter identity and...

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Leaf gas exchange was assessed in Avicennia germinans L. grown under different NaCl concentrations (0-40 per thousand), after salt-relief, and then during drought. Stomatal conductance (gs) and net photosynthetic rate (Pn) decreased with increasing NaCl concentration, and intrinsic water use efficiency (Pn / gs) increased. Under desalinization Pn / gs declined. Thus, gs did not change in plants...

Although knowledge on dispersal patterns is essential for predicting long-term population dynamics, critical information on the modalities of passive dispersal and potential interactions between vectors is often missing. Here, we use mangrove propagules with a wide variety of morphologies to investigate the interaction between water and wind as a driver of passive dispersal. We imposed 16 combi...

Four new jacaranone analogs, marinoids F-I (1-4), were isolated from the fruits of a Beibu Gulf mangrove Avicennia marina. The structures were elucidated based on analysis of spectroscopic data. Marinoids F and G are shown to be diastereoisomers of chlorocornoside, a new halogen containing marine secondary metabolite. The antioxidant activity of the isolates was evaluated using a cellular antio...