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Microbial Degradation Of The Leachable And Lignocellulosic Components Of Leaves And Wood From Rhizophora Mangle In A Tropical Mangrove Swamp, Ronald Benner, Robert E. Hodson

Faculty Publications

Preparations of uniformly [¹⁴C] labeled mangrove leaves and specifically radiolabeled [¹⁴C-lignin] lignocelluloses and [¹⁴C -polysaccharide]lignocelluloses from mangrove leaves and wood were used in experiments to determine the microbial rates of mineralization of the leachable and lignocellulosic components of mangrove detritus in aerobic and anaerobic sediments of a tropical mangrove swamp. The bulk of the leachable fraction from mangrove leaves was mineralized relatively rapidly and was assimilated into microbial biomass with high efficiency (30 %). In contrast, rates of mineralization of the lignocellulosic component of mangrove leaves and wood were 10fold lower than mineralization rates …