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5.4. Mangrove Forests of Papua
DANIEL M. ALONGI
TANGROVE FORESTS are one of the major ecosystems within the coastal zone of Indonesia. They develop best where low wave energy and shelter foster the deposition of fine sediments, and are the only woody plants living at the confluence of land and sea. Evidence of their success is the fact that the standing crop of mangrove forests is, on average, greater than any other aquatic ecosystem.
Unlike other tropical forests, mangroves are architecturally simple, being composed of relatively few tree species and often lacking an understory of shrubs and ferns (Figure 5.4.1). Mangrove trees possess morphological and physiological characteristics that make them uniquely adapted to the tidal zone, including aerial roots, salt-excreting leaves, and viviparous water-dispersed young seedlings (i.e., seeds that germinate while still on the parent tree).
Mangroves forests are heavily used traditionally for food, shelter, timber, fuel, and medicine. These tidal forests occupy a crucial niche along the Indonesian coast, as they are a valuable ecological and economic resource. Mangroves provide important nursery grounds and breeding sites for fishes, reptiles, birds, crustaceans, shellfish, and mammals; accumulation sites for sediment, contaminants, carbon, and nutrients; protection against coastal erosion; and a renewable source of wood (Alongi 2002).
Figure 5.4.1. A mature, mixed Rhizophora-Bruguiera forest in the Fly Delta, Papua New Guinea.
Photo: P. Dixon.
This chapter describes the mangrove forests and associated ecosystems in Papua. As the mangroves of Papua are not structurally and functionally different from those in Papua New Guinea, the mangroves of the entire (800,000 km2) oceanic island of New Guinea will be reviewed here. Information about mangroves and their ecology on the other islands of Indonesia can be found in chapters of the other volumes of this series (e.g., Chapter 19 in Tomascik et al. 1997).
Distribution
The island of New Guinea has large tracts of mangrove forest with the greatest species diversity of mangroves in the world due to its location bordering the Australasian and Indo-Malesian centers of diversity (Duke 1992). There may be as many as 43 species in New Guinea (Table 5.4.1) with fewer species on the north coast than on the south coast. This disparity of species richness is indicative of a floral discontinuity between the northern and southern
