Mangroves

• Ecological features:

  • halophytic plants - salt-tolerant
  • 5 to 25 metres tall
  • Sheltered tropical and subtropical coastal and intertidal areas
  • Usually 25° North and South
  • Can be as far as 32° North and 38° South

  Abiotic:

  • High salinity
  • High temperatures
  • Low oxygen availability
  • Waterlogged soil
  • Frequent flooding
  • Shifting sediments
• Ecological features adaptions:

  Filtration systems for high salinity

  • Barriers against osmosis and salt
  • Taking in salt then forcing it out of the leaves
  • Storing salt in the leaves and then dropping the leaves

  Complex root systems for low oxygen availability, frequent flooding, shifting sediments and storms

  • Cable roots
  • Pneumatophores
  • Knee roots
  • stilt roots
• Importance:

  • biodiversity - habitat provision for loads of species
  • costal erosion protection - vegetation and prop roots absorb wave energy, reducing the impact of storms and tsunamis
  • fisheries - provide important nursery grounds for sp. e.g. sharks
  • protection of coral reefs - reefs are damaged by suspended solids from rivers. Mangroves slow rivers down so the suspended solids are deposited before they reach the reefs
  • resources - provide timber for construction and fuel
  • medicine - traditional medicines and treatments for small-cell lung cancer
• Threats:

  • growth of human population
  • expansion of economic developments e.g. aquaculture, urban developments and ports cause large-scale mangrove destruction
  • Aeration from shrimp farms makes the oxygen level much higher than usual
  • fertiliser run-off = eutrophication
• Conservation efforts:

  • WWF - Community climate project
  • 5 year plan to protect and restore 2.47 million acres of mangroves