Florida’s increasing human population, along with more intensive agricultural practices and thus increases in nutrient runoff to coastal estuaries, serve as the general motivation for assessing mangrove responses to various nutrient regimes. Considering the ecosystem services that mangroves provide; including protection from erosion, water filtration, and nursery habitat for fish; the authors also chose to evaluate ecosystem functions of red mangroves. The authors aimed to evaluate tree growth, nutrient levels, and herbivory impacts across two similar mangrove islands that differed primarily in the nutrient inputs that they naturally received.