Edinburgh Napier University

  Global mangrove coverage is estimated to be 0.4% of the forested areas globally (Spalding et al. 1997). Despite this small areal coverage, mangroves are important because of the range of ecological, economic and environmental services they provide (Saenger 2002; FAO 1994) In the last few decades, unsustainable utilization of mangrove resources has resulted in a loss of 50% of their original cover (FAO 2005). The global mangrove biomass is estimated to be in excess of 8.7 gigatons dry weight (i.e. 4.0 gigatons of carbon; Twilley et al. 1992; Ong 1993). This is stored in both above-ground and below-ground tree components (Twilley et al. 1992). Most biomass studies on mangroves have concentrated on natural stands (Soares & Novelli 2005; Sherman et al. 2003; Saintilan 1997; Clough et al. 1997) with very few studies on managed and replanted forests (Ong 1993; Putz & Chan 1986).