Mangroves are found along all the coasts of Puerto Rico. The southern coast has mostly fringe and overwash communities with some scrubby basin communities, while the northern coast has some riverine and basin communities. The largest single area is on the northeast coast around Torrecilla. The area occupied by the mangrove is not extensive and there are nine protected areas with mangroves. Avicennia germinans, Conocarpus erectus, Laguncularia racemosa, and Rhizophora mangle, are the most common species.
Spalding, M.D., Blasco, F. & Field, C.D., eds. 1997 World Mangrove Atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan. 178 pp.
Year |
Area |
Source |
Trend |
Methodology/Comments |
1930 |
24 310 |
Martinez, R., Cintron, G. and Encarnacion, L. A. 1979. Mangroves in Puerto Rico: a structural inventory. Final report to the Office of Coastal Zone Management, NOAA, Washington, DC. |
Cited in: Lewis, R.R III. 2001. Costs and Benefits of Mangrove Restoration. In: Thematic Review on Coastal Wetland Habitats and Shrimp Aquaculture. Draft - 19th March 2001 annex 1: case studies. Case study 10. The figure refers to the original extent of mangroves. | |
1940 |
6 475 |
Holdridge L.R. 1940. Some notes on the Mangrove swamps of Puerto Rico. Caribbean Forester 1 : 19-29 |
Cited in: Odum, H.T., Copeland, B.J., McMahan, E.A. 1974. Coastal ecological systems of the United States Vol I. The "Year" is the publication year. | |
1965 |
6 718 |
Heatwole, H. 1985. Survey of the Mangroves of Puerto Rico...a benchmark study. Carib. J. Sci. 21 (3-4): 85-99. |
X |
Aerial photos |
1978 |
6 497 |
Carrera, C.J. and Lugo, A.E. 1978. Los sistemas de mangle en Puerto Rico. Programa de la zona Costanera. Depto. de Recursos Naturales, Puerto Rico. |
Snedaker, S.C. 1991. Personal communication. Cited in: Fisher, P and Spalding, M.D. 1993. Protected areas with mangrove habitat. Draft Report World Conservation Centre, Cambridge, UK. 60 pp. The "Year" is the publication year. | |
1979 |
3 000 |
Weaver, P.L. 1979. Tree growth in several tropical forests of Puerto Rico. US. Dept. Agri. Forest Service Res. Paper. Southern Forest Experiment Station. New Orleans, LA. 15 pp. |
Cited in: FAO. 1986. Sintesis de siete seminarios nacionales en América Latina. Rollet, B., ed. FAO, Rome. 105 pp. The figure should be considered as an under-estimate. | |
1983 |
6 500 |
Saenger, P., Hegerl E.J. and J.D.S., Davie. 1983. Global status of mangrove ecosystems. Commission on Ecology Papers No.3. IUCN. Gland, Switzerland. 88 pp. |
Secondary reference. The document could probably refer to Carrera, C.J. and Lugo, A.E. 1978 (see above). The "Year" is the publication year. | |
1989 |
4 700 |
Peter A.Franco, Peter L.Weaver, Susan Eggen-McIntosh 1997. Forest resources of Puerto Rico 1990. Resource Bulletin SRS-22 |
Remote sensing and aerial photos | |
1990 |
8 746 |
Velásquez, E., Quiñones, M., Martínez, R., Salgado, S., Beatón Montes, R. 1990. Invetario de los manglares de Puerto Rico. Programa de Manejo de la Zona Costanera de Puerto Rico. Hoja Informativa del Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales. |
The document provides the breakdown of the figure but no methodology. | |
1994 |
9 200 |
Spalding, M.D., Blasco, F. and Field, C.D., eds. 1997. World Mangrove Atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan. 178 pp. |
Map analysis. Scale 1:500 000. Map used dated 1978; an additional map dated 1994 was also used. According to the author the distribution of mangroves reported in the two maps was similar; the latter was used to add the mangroves extent in the Isla de Vieques. | |
2001 |
6 410 |
Lewis, R.R III. 2001. Costs and Benefits of Mangrove Restoration. In: Thematic Review on Coastal Wetland Habitats and Shrimp Aquaculture Draft - 19th March 2001 Annex 1: case studies. Case study 10 |
X |
Expert estimate. According to the author this extent represents the actual extent of mangroves. The "Year" is the publication year. |
