Toxicity and Bioavailability of Heavy Metals and Hydrocarbons in Mangrove Wetlands and Their Remediation

Mangrove wetlands are coastal wetland ecosystems that dominate the intertidal zone of tropical and subtropical foreshore areas. The ecological, environmental, and socioeconomic importance of mangrove wetlands has been widely recognized. They have an extraordinarily high rate of primary productivity (Alongi 2002), act as both an atmospheric CO2 sink and as an essential source of oceanic carbon (Cahoon et al. 2003, Chmura et al. 2003), provide nursery grounds and refuge for ecologically and commercially important marine organisms (Primavera 1998, Mumby et al. 2004), protect coastal erosion and maintain shore stability (Dahdouh-Guebas et al. 2005, Danielsen et al. 2005), and filter river-borne sediment and nutrients to minimize their inputs into more sensitive systems, such as seagrass beds and coral reefs (Alongi and McKinnon 2005). Mangrove wetlands are under a serious threat of anthropogenic pollution due to the current population expansion and accompanying.