Scaling from Plots to the Landscape
This project links mangrove stands to the surrounding coast through one continuous cycle: dispersal, establishment, growth, and reproduction. Conditions within a stand determine whether arriving propagules establish, grow into trees, and reproduce. Reproduction replenishes the local supply of propagules, while water moving across the landscape determines whether they remain nearby or reach other coastal wetlands.
Comparing the two scales reveals the driver at each step. Patterns of establishment, growth, and reproduction show where the life cycle succeeds or stalls. Models of flow and connectivity show the routes, barriers, and sources that carry propagules under ordinary and storm conditions. A forest may fail because local conditions prevent recruitment, or because it is disconnected from the propagules needed to begin the cycle again.”
