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Journal article
Mangroves support an estimated annual abundance of over 700 billion juvenile fish and invertebrates
Communications Earth & Environment, Vol.6(1), pp.1-13
2025
Abstract
Mangroves are a critical habitat that provide a suite of ecosystem services and support livelihoods. Here we undertook a global analysis to model the density and abundance of 37 commercially important juvenile fish and juvenile and resident invertebrates that are known to extensively use mangroves, by fitting expert-identified drivers of density to fish and invertebrate density data from published field studies. The numerical model predicted high densities throughout parts of Southeast and South Asia, the northern coast of South America, the Red Sea, and the Caribbean and Central America. Application of our model globally estimates that mangroves support an annual abundance of over 700 billion juvenile fish and invertebrates. While abundance at the early life-history stage does not directly equate to potential economic or biomass gains, this estimate indicates the critical role of mangroves globally in supporting fish and fisheries, and further builds the case for their conservation and restoration.
Details
- Title
- Mangroves support an estimated annual abundance of over 700 billion juvenile fish and invertebrates
- Authors
- Philine S. E. zu Ermgassen (Corresponding Author) - University of EdinburghThomas A. Worthington (Corresponding Author) - University of CambridgeJonathan R. Gair - Max Planck Institute for Gravitational PhysicsEmma E. Garnett - University of OxfordNibedita Mukherjee - Brunel University of LondonKate Longley-Wood - The Nature ConservancyIvan Nagelkerken - The University of AdelaideKátya Abrantes - James Cook UniversityOctavio Aburto-Oropeza - Scripps Institution of OceanographyAlejandro Acosta - Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation CommissionAna Rosa da Rocha Araujo - Universidade Federal de SergipeRonald Baker - University of South AlabamaAdam Barnett - James Cook UniversityChristine M. Beitl - University of MaineRayna Benzeev - University of California, BerkeleyJustin Brookes - The University of AdelaideGustavo A. Castellanos-Galindo - Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland FisheriesVing Ching Chong - University of MalayaRod M. Connolly - Griffith UniversityMarília Cunha-Lignon - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Farid Dahdouh-Guebas - Zoological Society of LondonKaren Diele - Edinburgh Napier UniversityPatrick G. Dwyer - New South Wales Department of Primary IndustriesDaniel A. Friess - Tulane UniversityThomas Grove - Whale WiseM. Enamul Hoq - Bangladesh Fisheries Research InstituteChantal Huijbers - Naturalis Biodiversity CenterNeil Hutchinson - James Cook University SingaporeAndrew F. Johnson - Heriot-Watt UniversityRoss Johnson - James Cook UniversityJon Knight - Griffith UniversityUwe Krumme - Johann Heinrich von Thünen-InstitutBaraka Kuguru - Tanzania Fisheries Research InstituteShing Yip Lee - Chinese University of Hong KongAaron Savio Lobo - Wildlife Conservation Society IndiaBlandina R. Lugendo - University of Dar es SalaamJan-Olaf Meynecke - Griffith UniversityCosmas Nzaka Munga - Technical University of MombasaAndrew D. Olds - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringCara L. Parrett - Faraday Institute for Science and ReligionBorja G. Reguero - University of California, Santa CruzPatrik Rönnbäck - Uppsala UniversityAnna Safryghin - Open Seas Trust (United Kingdom)Marcus Sheaves - James Cook UniversityMatthew D. Taylor - Port Stephens Fisheries InstituteJocemar Tomasino Mendonça - Instituto de PescaNathan J. Waltham - James Cook UniversityMatthias Wolff - Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine ResearchMark D. Spalding - University of Cambridge
- Publication details
- Communications Earth & Environment, Vol.6(1), pp.1-13
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1038/s43247-025-02229-w
- ISSN
- 2662-4435
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- The raw fish density data, and species and species group predictions are available on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14965669).
- Grant note
- Lyda Hill Foundation (https://doi.org/10.13039/100007423)
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991122004802621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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