Mangrove forests are among the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems in the tropical and subtropical coastal areas supporting local communities. Anthropogenic activities have increased the input of heavy metals (HM) in mangroves areas with negative consequences in organismal and human health. The aim of this review is a spatiotemporal analysis of HMs in mangrove sediment at a global and regional scale from 1988 to 2019 with a GIS approach. Maps displaying the distribution of lead, copper, zinc, nickel, and cadmium (most reported HM in mangroves sediment) base on the ecological risk indices TEC-PEC were plotted using Qgis. It was found an increase in HMs in mangrove sediment over the past 30 years, being nickel and cadmium the HMs more frequently found at hazardous concentrations for the biota. Furthermore, most of the research has concentrated in industrial and urban areas but “pristine” regions need further research as well as countries with the largest extensions of mangroves, like Indonesia and Mexico. Moreover, the lack of regional HM background concentrations difficult the accurate discrimination between human and natural sources of HMs and standardized methods are required to assure the comparability between studies.
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