Preface.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Trees and Canopies. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Biomass Allocation. 2.2.1 Partitioning of Tree Components. 2.2.2 Global Patterns of Mangrove Biomass. 2.2.3 Nutrient Capital. 2.3 Ecophysiology. 2.3.1 Anoxia. 2.3.2 Salt. 2.3.3 Balancing Carbon Gain and Water Loss. 2.4 Tree Photosynthesis and Respiration. 2.4.1 Photosynthetic Rates. 2.4.2 Respiration. 2.5 Primary Productivity. 2.5.1 Methods and Their Limitations. 2.5.2 Carbon Allocation of Primary Productivity. 2.5.3 Rates and Patterns of Net Primary Productivity. 2.5.4 Nutrient Limitation and Nutrient-Use Efficiency. 2.5.5 Other Primary Producers. 2.6 Life in the Canopy and Root Epibionts.-3. Water and Sediment Dynamics. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Tides. 3.2.1 Flow in Relation to Geomorphology. 3.2.2 Flow in Relation to Vegetation and other Biological Structures. 3.3 Groundwater. 3.4 Waves. 3.5 Sediment Transport and Flocculation. 3.6 Sedimentation and Accretion: Short-Term versus Long-Term Dynamics. 3.7 Chemical and Biological Consequences of Water and Sediment Flow.- 4. Life in Tidal Waters. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Physicochemical and Biochemical Attributes. 4.3 Loops, Chains, and Hubs in the Microbial Machinery. 4.4 Phytoplankton Dynamics. 4.5 Are Mangrove Waters Net Heterotrophic or Autotrophic? 4.6 Zooplankton. 4.6.1 Factors Affecting Abundance, Composition, and Biomass. 4.6.2 Diets and Grazing Rates. 4.6.3 Secondary Production. 4.7 Nekton: Diets, Growth, and Trophic Links. 4.7.1 Penaeid Shrimps. 4.7.2 Fish. 4.8 Is There a Link between Mangroves and Fisheries Production?- 5. The Forest Floor. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Soil Composition and Physicochemical Attributes. 5.3 Life on the Forest Floor. 5.3.1 The Role of Crabs in Consumption of Seeds and Litter. 5.3.2 Patterns of Microbial Decomposition of Litter. 5.3.3 Crabs as Ecosystem Engineers. 5.3.4 Trophic Dynamics of Other Macrobenthos. 5.3.5 Wood Decomposition. 5.3.6 Root Decomposition. 5.4 Microbial Processes in Forest Soils. 5.4.1 Rates and Pathways of Bacterial Decomposition of Soil Organic Matter. 5.4.2 Sulfate Reduction. 5.4.3 Iron and Manganese Reduction. 5.4.4 Methane Release. 5.4.5 Nitrogen Processes and Links to Trees. 5.4.6 Aspects of Phosphorus Cycling.- 6. Ecosystem Dynamics. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Material Exchange: The Outwelling Concept. 6.2.1 Carbon Export to the Coastal Ocean and the Atmosphere. 6.2.2 Dissolved Nitrogen and Phosphorus Exchange. 6.3 Carbon Balance in Mangrove Ecosystems. 6.3.1 Whole-Ecosystem Balances. 6.3.2 The Mass Balance Approach. 6.4 Nitrogen Flow through Mangrove Ecosystems: The Hinchinbrook Island Study. 6.5 Mineral Cycling. 6.6 Systems Analysis: Understanding links among Various Functions of an Eosytem. 6.6.1 Network Models. 6.6.2 Ecohydrology: Linking Physics and Ecology for Management Applications. 6.7 Ecological Economics and Sustainability of Mangroves. 6.7.1 Models of Resource Economics. 6.7.2 Using Ecosystems Data to Quantify Sustainability.- 7. Synthesis. 7.1 Developing A Global View. 7.1.1 A Budget and its Implications. 7.1.2 The Contribution of Mangroves to Carbon Cycling in the Global Coastal Ocean. 7.2 The Most Important Facts regarding Mangrove Energetics. 7.3 Epilogue.- References. Index