mangrove

Mangrove Ecosystem

Defination:•Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics.

•the mangrove family of plants, the Rhizophoraceae•mangrove trees of the genus Rhizophora.

Mangrove swamps are found in tropical and subtropical tidal areas. Areas where mangal occurs include estuaries and marine shorelines.

About 110 species are considered mangroves, in the sense of being a tree that grows in such a saline swamp.

the ecosystem that these trees create provides a home for a great variety of other organisms.

Ecology

Mangroves also provide important permanent and temporary habitats for a large number and range of marine and terrestrial fauna.

Marine fauna commonly found in mangroves includes molluscs, crustaceans.

A wide range of terrestrial fauna is also found in mangroves and includes insects, snakes, frogs, and mammals.

Habitat

mangrove root structures provide perfect habitat for spawning and nursery areas for juvenile fish and crustaceans.

Other animals use the mangroves as an extension of their terrestrial habitat and feed on the mud flats during low tide.

A wide variety of bird species also inhabit mangroves

Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle)

Black Mangrove (Avicennia germinans)

White Mangrove(Laguncularia racemosa)

MANGROVE COMMUNITY TYPES

Rhizophora mangle Red Mangrove

•Opposite, evergreen leaves & white flowers•Prop roots – grounded and ungrounded•Viviparous

Avicennia germinansBlack mangrove

•Opposite, leathery leaves; yellowish to dark green above, downy beneath with salt glands

Adaptations to low oxygen•Red mangroves, which can survive in the most inundated areas prop themselves above the water level with stilt roots and can then absorb air through pores in their bark . •Black mangroves live on higher ground and make many pneumatophores•There are four types of pneumatophore stilt or prop type, snorkel or peg type, knee type, and ribbon or plank type. Knee and ribbon types may be combined with roots at the base of the tree

Limiting water loss the limited fresh water available in salty

intertidal soils, mangroves limit the amount of water they lose through their leaves. They can restrict the opening of their stomata.

Nutrient uptake The biggest problem that mangroves face is

nutrient uptake.

•Factors affecting the distribution of mangroves:

there is little free oxygen. Anaerobic bacteria liberate nitrogen gas,

inorganic phosphates, sulfides, and methane, which makes the soil much less nutritious.

Pnuematophores allow mangroves to absorb gases directly from the atmosphere, and other nutrients such as iron, from the soil.

Mangroves store gases directly inside the roots.

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