Data from: The ecology of marginality—linking the informal settlement of mangrove forests and the rise of ecological novelty
Data files
Feb 25, 2026 version files 52.54 KB
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Animal_matrixC.csv
12.87 KB
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Environmental_data.xlsx
12.69 KB
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Plant_matrix.xlsx
24.73 KB
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README.md
2.26 KB
Abstract
The human habitation of mangrove forests in coastal cities of Latin America has historically been seen as a signature of the marginalization of low-income ethnic minorities, but the ecological consequences of these dwelling practices are far from being understood. This study examines the impact of chronic stress from expanding low-income urban settlements on plant and intertidal macrofaunal communities in Colombian Caribbean mangroves commonly dominated by Rhizophora mangle, comparing urban, rural, and wild mangrove stands. In urbanized mangrove forests, R. mangle was replaced by Laguncularia racemosa, a hallmark of urbanization in Caribbean mangroves. Intriguingly, urban forests experienced a significant increase in species richness compared to wild counterparts. This suggests reconsidering this variable as an indicator of ecosystem degradation. Urbanized mangroves host novel assemblages of mangrove species, alien species, utilized plants, generalist weeds or pests, and freshwater species. These assemblages reflect typical urbanization processes in low-income coastal areas from the Global South, with wastewater runoff shaping biotic structure and providing food subsidies for opportunistic species. The use of rubble and timber for landfilling in urban mangroves alters tidal regimes and flood patterns, adding stress to remaining forest patches and promoting the proliferation of utilized plants and alien freshwater species, representing a threat to human health. This study highlights the complex interplay between ecological and social processes in creating ecological novelty.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2k4
Description of the data and file structure
Data are matrices of abundance and species composition of plant and animal (macrobenthic) species collected in plots and environmental/anthropogenic disturbance metrics taken in three types of mangrove forests (urban, rural, wild) in the Urabá Gulf (Colombian Caribbean)
Files and variables
File: Animal_matrixC.csv
Description:
Matrix of species composition and abundance of animal taxa in three types of mangrove forest. The code for each column has three keys separated by hyphens: the first letter denotes the type of mangrove (U=urban, R=rural, W= wild); the second is a number from 1 to 5, denoting the intertidal level (1= lowest intertidal to 5 = higher intertidal). and then testing the numberreplicatescate (From R1 to R5)
Variables
- Rows are taxa, and columns are abundances per square meter.
File: Environmental_data.xlsx
Description:
Matrix of metrics of environmental factors or anthropogenic disturbances registered in plots from three types of mangrove forests. See Appendix S1 for further description on the associated methods to estimate these factors.
Variables
- Salinity
- Anthropogenic litter (items m -2)
- Number of built structures in a 196 m2 plot
- Logging (number in a 196 m2 plot)
- Holdridge Complexity Index
File: Plant_matrix.xlsx
Description:
Matrix of species composition and cover of plant taxa in three types of mangrove forest. The code for each column has three keys separated by hyphens: the first letter denotes the type of mangrove (U=urban, R=rural, W= wild); the second is a number from 1 to 5, denoting the intertidal level (1= lowest intertidal to 5 = higher intertidal), and the denoting the number of replicates (From R1 to R5)
Variables
- Rows are species/taxa; columns are cover (% in a 196 m2 plot) of each species in the corresponding plots
Code/software
Data are provided as Excel files. No additional software or code is required to visualize the data.