title: Structure and production in neotropical mangroves.
abstract: Research on the extensive mangrove communities of neotropical shorelines has generated several hypotheses concerning the factors leading to the zonation of mangrove species from shore to land. Zonation has been thought of as an expression of successional processes that occur as coastlines extend seaward due to land building by mangroves, as an expression of the different physiological requirements of different species, as a function of propagule size, or as the result of the geophysical forces that continually reshape the coastline. This article reviews the evidence for the various hypotheses, and comments on the production of mangroves and their importance in shoreline management.
authors.affiliation: G. Rodriguez is at the Centro de Ecologia, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Caracas, Venezuela.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodriguez