High Productivity Makes Mangroves Potentially Important Players in the Tropical Silicon Cycle

Over the last two decades, recognition of the important role terrestrial plants play in regulating silicon (Si) cycling has emerged. Si improves plant fitness by protecting them from abiotic (e.g., desiccation) and biotic (e.g., fungal attack) stressors. Once incorporated into plant biomass this biogenic Si is more bio-available than the lithogenic material from which it was ultimately derived. Thus plants play a key function in regulating the...