Mangrove forests are commonly found along tropical and subtropical coastlines. They form a small boundary between terrestrial and marine environments, and they can exchange materials between environments influenced by a tidal regime and terrestrial runoff. This material exchange can be of ecological importance to nearshore waters. To create a better understanding of this exchange function, it is necessary to quantify all different forms of material exchange that occurs simultaneously on this boundary. I propose to measure the tidal exchange of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. This includes measuring passive exchange of carbon and nutrients dissolved or suspended in the water as well as active exchange of fish and macro-invertebrates so as to quantify their relative contribution to the exchange budget. The data on faunal biomass will also provide information on habitat and nursery function of the mangrove forest, which is likely to be of high ecological importance to nearshore waters as well. Also, a carbon budget will be created combining data on carbon export with existing productivity data. As part of a Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project, developed to study the threatened Everglades while undergoing hydrologic restoration, this project will provide baseline data on the current material exchange between an Everglades mangrove forest and Florida Bay.