Decomposition of Mangrove Wood by Marine Fungi and Teredinids in Belize

Experiments were conducted to determine the decomposition rate of mangrove wood in two areas of differing water nutrient concentrations. Stakes were prepared from prop roots of Rhizophora inangle and from branches of Avicennia. Conocarpus and Lagguncularia. and tied in the natural habitat at two sites—Man-of-war Cay (high nutrient concentrations) and Twin Cays (low nutrient concentrations) — off the Belize coast. The stakes were retrieved after 4–24 months and the vertical zonation and succession of higher marine fungi was recorded. Consumption of wood by shipworms (Teredo bartschi), the major decomposers, was measured by digital analysis of the area of wood consumed by these boring organisms.