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Small Estuarine and Non-Estuarine Mangrove Ecosystems of Tanzania: Overlooked Coastal Habitats?

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dc.creator Kimirei, Ismael
dc.creator Igulu, Mathias M.
dc.creator Semba, Masumbuko
dc.creator Lugendo, Blandina R.
dc.date 2016-06-26T17:26:10Z
dc.date 2016-06-26T17:26:10Z
dc.date 2016
dc.date.accessioned 2018-03-27T08:23:15Z
dc.date.available 2018-03-27T08:23:15Z
dc.identifier Kimirei, I.A., Igulu, M.M., Semba, M. and Lugendo, B.R., 2016. Small Estuarine and Non-Estuarine Mangrove Ecosystems of Tanzania: Overlooked Coastal Habitats?. In Estuaries: A Lifeline of Ecosystem Services in the Western Indian Ocean (pp. 209-226). Springer International Publishing.
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/2752
dc.identifier 10.1007/978-3-319-25370-1_13
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/2752
dc.description Full text can be accessed at http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-25370-1_13
dc.description Small estuaries and non-estuarine habitats harboring mangroves are very important ecosystems which provide important ecosystem goods and services; such as provision of ecological niches for juvenile fishes and invertebrates, enhances fisheries, and in biodiversity conservation. Similar to large estuaries, they are highly perturbed which threatens their existence. This chapter uses beach seine, underwater visual census, and stable isotope data to discuss the importance of and threats to small estuaries and non-estuarine mangroves found in Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo and Zanzibar, Tanzania. For example, mangroves of Kunduchi (Dar es Salaam) and Mbegani (Bagamoyo) which harbour predominantly higher densities of juveniles (≤10 cm) of two economically important species—Lutjanus fulviflamma and Lethrinus harak—than adjacent coral reefs. Evidence suggests further that the Kunduchi mangroves replenish fish populations on adjacent coral reefs; where over 90% and 29% of adult L. fulviflamma and L. harak individuals, respectively, have been identified to have lived in the mangroves as juveniles. In terms of habitat utilization by different size classes of fish, five of the 13 species (Lethrinus lentjan, L. variegatus, Pelates quadrilineatus, Siganus sutor and Sphyraena barracuda) found in Chwaka Bay (Zanzibar) were found as small-sized individuals in shallow and turbid mangrove areas with large juveniles and sub-adults in adjacent seagrass beds. The non-estuarine mangroves of Kunduchi and those of Mtoni estuary (Dar es Salaam) are subjected to pollution from urban activities. For example, stable isotope data of fishes indicate elevated levels of nitrogen in these mangroves with highest levels (δ15N = 15.2 ± 0.2) recorded in Mtoni estuary. In view of their importance and threats they face, these ecosystems require attention similar to large estuaries. If the current degradation rate of these ‘overlooked’ but equally important ecosystems continues, they may be declared ‘functionally disappeared’ in a few decades.
dc.language en
dc.publisher Springer Link
dc.subject Small estuaries
dc.subject Non-estuarine mangroves
dc.subject Mangrove ecosystem
dc.subject Ecosystem goods and services
dc.subject Ecosystem values
dc.subject Biodiversity conservation
dc.subject Tanzania
dc.subject Pollution
dc.subject Seagrass beds
dc.subject Fish populations
dc.subject Kunduchi
dc.subject Mbegani
dc.subject Mtoni estuary
dc.subject Chwaka Bay
dc.title Small Estuarine and Non-Estuarine Mangrove Ecosystems of Tanzania: Overlooked Coastal Habitats?
dc.type Book chapter


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