Selective Strategies Aid Competitive Success

a small mangrove tree grows it's first four leaves in light brown soil, a forest of mangroves can be seen behind it

Biological Strategy

Mangroves

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Regulate Reproduction or Growth

Reproduction and growth are two physiological processes that occur in all living systems. There are situations when conditions are right for both, and other situations when continuing either harms the living system because both have a very high energy cost. Reproduction and growth are unique in that both can stop until conditions improve, although stopping either for an extended time can cause problems. An example of regulating reproduction is a process called delayed implantation or embryonic diapause found in some mammals, such as otters. An otter’s embryos sometimes temporarily cease developing and won’t develop further until the female senses that conditions are suitable.

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Cooperate Within an Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a community of organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) interacting with one another and the nonliving components of their environment (such as air, water, and mineral soil). This interaction can be passive or active, and can cooperatively enhance the functioning of the ecosystem as a whole. For cooperation to contribute to maintaining communities within an ecosystem, it must be beneficial to at least some members of the community. Cooperation consists of symbiotic relationships, such as mutualism (in which two or more species in an ecosystem benefit) and commensalism (in which one species benefits and the effect on others is neutral). An example of a commensal relationship is that between bromeliad plants and trees: bromeliads live on trees without harming them. Bromeliads have mutualistic relationships with other species, including insects, frogs, and worms. The plants capture water in their base, forming a pond that these organisms join. The nutrients that these organisms excrete in their droppings nourish the bromeliad.

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Flowering Plants

Clade Angiosperms (“receptacle seed”): Dandelions, oaks, grasses, cacti, apples

With 416 families containing some 300,000 known species, angiosperms are the most diverse group of plants, and they can be found around the globe in a wide variety of habitats. They are characterized by seeds that grow enclosed in ovaries, which are enclosed in flowers. The floral organs then develop into fruits of myriad kinds and dimensions, from simple seed casings on maples to elaborate fleshy growths like papayas. The oldest flower known from fossils, Montsechia vidalii, appeared during the Jurassic Period 130 million years ago. They are the primary food source for herbivorous animals, which in turn makes them the indirect food source for carnivores as well.

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Mangrove forests successfully compete for resources by exhibiting both r-selected (pioneer) and K-selected (competitive) attributes.

“Succession is part of the normal dynamics of many forest types: the chance appearance of gaps, rapidly colonised by opportunistic ‘weeds’ which are progressively ousted by slower-growing but more competitive species until a mature forest reappears…Some of the differences and similarities between mangroves and their non-mangrove counterparts are shown in Table 2.4. The comparisons suggest that mangroves resemble (r-selected) pioneer species in their reproductive characteristics, but as adult trees they behave more as mature-phase competitive (K-selected) species. This observation, that mangroves contrive to have their cake and eat it (Tomlinson 1986) should prove a fruitful insight into the dynamics of mangrove forests.” (Hogarth 1999:45)

Hogarth, PJ. 1999. The biology of mangroves. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 228 p.
NOTE: Table 2.4 lists and compares 17 character and 7 community features of pioneer, mature, and mangrove forests. This would be useful for further investigation into r-

Last Updated August 18, 2016

References

Book

The Biology of Mangroves and Seagrasses (Biology of Habitats Series)

Oxford University Press | 31/05/2007 | Peter Hogarth

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Reference

Book

The Botany of Mangroves (Cambridge Tropical Biology Series)

Cambridge University Press | 31/03/1995 | P. B. Tomlinson

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Reference

Book section

Forest structure p 101-136 In Tropical mangrove ecosystems. Coastal and estuarine studies no. 4.

American Geophysical Union | Smith, TJ

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