Summary: Theses tructuresa nd theiractivities,c oupledw ith drainagea ndr echargeo f interstitialw aterb y tides,f osters patially complexp

atternso f organicm atterd ecompositionw ithin the forestf loor. Except for biogenic structureso, xygen penetrateso nly a few millimetersi nto the soil, so anaerobic processesd ominatee arly diagenesisS. ulfater eductioni s often the major anoxicp rocess occurring to a soil depth of at least 1 m and relating to root uptake and exudation of dissolved material Close and highly efficient tree-microbe-soil interrelationshipasr e a major factor in explainingw hy mangrovesa re highly productive forest

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Different species can control the reodox potential in the soil affecting microbial processes. One such plant is Avicennia. Because hatm angrovelse ak oxygenf romt heirr oots,c ausingth e
surroundinsgo ilt o be more oxidizedt hann eighborings oild evoido f live roots The replenishmenot f interstitialw aterb y tidesc an alsog reatlyi nfluences oil chemistry,as tropicalt idal watersa re often acidic.S oils that are lessf requentlyi nundateda nd more frequentlye xposedt o the atmospherea re more oxidizedt han thoses oilsf urther seaward. Animal burrows,e speciallyt hosep roducedb y grapsida nd sesarmidc rabs,p lay a key role in modifying soil properties reducingt he crab fauna resultedi n increaseds oil sulfidea nd ammoniumc oncentrationasn d decreasedfo restp roductivityi n Rhizophoradominateds tandsi n Australia U nder thesel essa noxicc onditionsm, ore nitrogeni savailable for tree uptake in the form of nitrate but phosphate in more oxidez soils become more adsorbed to metals and clay and become less available for uptake.

Major sulphate reducing bacteria : Desulfovibrio, Desulfotomaculu, Desulfosarcina and

Desulfococcus Nitrogen fixing bacteria Azotobacter, Rhizobium Reasonably accurate estimates of bacterial densities based on direct counts are rare as plate counting methods produce sever underestimates of true bacterial densities [ Alongi and Sasekumar,1 992]. Densitiesv ary in relationt o sedimentg rain size,organic content, root and infaunal abundance and distribution and to environmentalfactors,s ucha s temperatureV. ertical distributiono f bacteriai n mangroves oilsi s highlyerratic,u suallyp resentingn o increasingo r decreasingp atternw ith increasings oil depth. Large populations of nitrogen-fixing or ironreducingbacteriaa ssociatedw ith subsurfacero ots and rhizomesm ay be partly responsiblefor subsurfacem aximao f totalb acterialn umbers[ Alongi and Sasekumar1, 992]. Protozoansa re alsoa bundanitn mangroves oils( Figure 3). Mangrovesh arbora rich variety of protozoa,s ucha s foraminifera,c iliates,f lagellatesa, moebaea, nd amoeboflagellates.

at bacterialb iomassa nd rates of productivitya nd growth were regulatedp rimarily by the temperaturec hangesinducedb y tidal flooding and exposurea, nd secondarilyb y silt and clay contenta nd thepresenceo f ciliate and flagellatep redato
Sulfate-reducingb acteria remain very active in mangroves oils down to 1 m Transformationa nd assimilationp rocesseso f nitrogenb est highlight the nature of mangrove-soil relationsm as nitrogen is often a limiting elemtnt to angorve growth and production Bacteria and fungi, through theirmetabolica ctivities,a lter the microenvironmenat roundt he roots,r eleasingn utrientsa ndmodifying the redox potential and pH of the soil. Microbes, in turn, depend on the leakageof dissolvedn utrientsf rom the rootsa s a sourceo f energy[ Hyde and Lee, 1995; Holguinet al., 2001 ] Considerings ynergisticr elationships, Holguin et al. [2001]found that nitrogeni ncorporationin to Avicennial eavesd oubledw hen culturesc ontaineda mixture of both of the N2-fixing bacterium Phyllobacterium sp. and the phosphatesolubilizingbacterium, B. licheniformis. N edwell et al. [1994] suggestth at organicn itrogend erivedf romrootss upporths igh rateso f ammoniump roductiona ndn itrogenf ixationi n mangroves oils.Ammonification rates have rarely been measured in mangroves due to methodologicalproblem Little of the nitrogenn ecessaryfo r tree growthi s derivedf rom uptakef rom tidal wate

Nitrate availabilityi s generallyn ot thoughtt o be importantb ecausen itratei s nearly alwaysp resent to soil depths of 1 m in mangrove forests [Alongi et al., 2002].