Tropical and subtropical mangroves support adjacent marine
communities and ecosystems, including seagrass beds and coral
reefs. However, little is known about the intra-wetland
processes that regulate those interactions and how they are
affected when the coastal zone is altered by eutrophication. The
objectives of this study are to determine the patterns of
nutrient limitation across mangrove forests in Bocas del Toro
and the effects of nutrient availability of plant growth,
within-plant nutrient conservation mechanisms, litter turnover
rates, soil chemistry, and primary consumption. This study is
part of our effort to understand general patterns of nutrient
availability in mangrove ecosystems. Our goals are to compare
plant growth, photosynthesis, nutrient cycling processes, and
animal-plant interactions in response to nutrient enrichment in
mangrove forests. We propose to investigate patterns of above-
and below-ground growth, faunal composition and abundance,
herbivory patterns, soil chemistry, and nutrien