Cage experiments in an East African mangrove forest: a synthesis

The impact of epibenthos on endobenthos has frequently been investigated for temperate saltmarsh regions by using cage exclusion experiments. Although the insight into the function of the endobenthos of mangrove forests is crucial for their management, very few cage experiments have so far been carried out in such areas. The present paper summaries the results of such experiments in a typical East African mangrove forest at Gazi Bay about 60 km south of Mombasa, Kenya. Epibenthic animals were excluded for one year in two mangrove zones which differed in forest morphology and intertidal position (Ceriops tagal and Avicennia marina). Environmental factors and meiobenthic and macrobenthic densities were followed in a randomised block design, and procedural and exclusion effects were statistically detected. In confronting the separate responses of all faunal groups in the two mangrove zones, this synthesis gives a better insight into the tropho-dynamical interactions than the earlier separate reports on the same experiment. The ecosystem of the mangrove zones and the competitive interactions within this system provided an ideal opportunity to discover the existence of two food systems. This confirmed a strong involvement of the majority of the endobenthos in an isolated decompositional pathway in the mangrove sediment. It became clear that this exploitative competition was more important than the epibenthic predation in structuring and regulating the global endobenthic community. This synthesis therefore both demonstrates the decisive role of the endobenthos as regenators of mangrove material, and suggests that endobenthos plays a minor role as prey for the demersal or pelagic carnivores.