Mangrove

From Academic Kids

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Mangroves.jpg

Above and below water view at the edge of the mangal

Mangrove are woody trees or shrubs that grow in coastal habitats or mangal (Hogarth, 1999), for which the term mangrove swamp also would apply. Mangrove plants occupy shallow water and intertidal zones in tropical and subtropical coastal regions, usually where protected from direct wave action, and thus characterized by muddy or fine sediment substrata.

The mangal is often considered a type of biome. Mangrove habitat is exclusively tropical and tidal, and therefore having soil or sediment that is water-logged and saline or of variable salinity. Areas where mangal occurs includes estuaries and marine shorelines. A wide variety of plant species can be found in mangrove habitat, but some 54 species in 20 genera, belonging to 16 families constitute the "true mangroves" — species that occur almost exclusively in mangrove habitats and rarely elsewhere (Hogarth, 1999).

The roots of the mangrove plants stabilize the sand and mud. In areas of the world where mangroves have been removed for development purposes, the coastline has been subject to rapid erosion. They also provide a habitat for wildlife and serve as a natural buffer to strong winds and waves produced by cyclones. In Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and India, mangrove plantations are grown in coastal regions for this purpose. They can protect against tsunamis.

The mangrove species, Sonneratia, growing on the landward margin of the reef flat on Yap and showing abundant pneumatophores

Contents

1 Species of mangroves

1.1 Major components
1.2 Minor components

2 Mangrove ecoregions

3 Reference

4 External link

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Species of mangroves

The following listing (after Tomlinson, 1986) gives the number of species of mangroves in each listed plant genus and family.

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Major components

Family Avicenniaceae

Avicennia – 8

Family Combretaceae

Laguncularia – 1
Lumnitzera – 2

Family Arecaceae

Nypa – 1

Family Rhizophoraceae

Bruguiera – 6
Ceriops – 2
Kandelia – 1
Rhizophora – 8

Family Sonneratiaceae

Sonneratia – 5

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Minor components

Family Bombacaceae

Camptostemon – 2

Family Euphorbiaceae

Excoecaria – 2

Family Lythraceae

Pemphis – 1

Family Meliaceae

Xylocarpus – 2

Family Myrsinaceae

Aegiceras – 2

Family Myrtaceae

Osbornia – 1

Family Pellicieraceae

Pelliciera – 1

Family Plumbaginaceae

Aegialitis – 2

Family Pteridaceae

Acrostichum – 3

Family Rubiaceae

Scyphiphora – 1

Family Sterculiaceae

Heritiera – 3

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Mangrove ecoregions

Afrotropic ecozone
Central African mangroves (Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria) East African mangroves (Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania) Guinean mangroves (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, C�te d'Ivoire) Madagascar mangroves (Madagascar) Southern Africa mangroves (Mozambique, South Africa)

Australasia ecozone
New Guinea mangroves (Indonesia)

Indomalaya ecozone
Chorao Island mangroves (Goa-India) Chilka Lake (Orissa-India) Godavari-Krishna mangroves (India) Indochina mangroves (Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam) Indus River Delta-Arabian Sea mangroves (Pakistan) Myanmar coast mangroves (India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand) Pichavaram mangroves (Tamil Nadu-India) Sunda Shelf mangroves (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia) Sundarbans mangroves (Bangladesh, India)

Neotropic ecozone
Alvarado mangroves (Mexico) Amapa mangroves (Brazil) Bahamian mangroves (Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands) Bahia mangroves (Brazil) Belizean Coast mangroves (Belize) Belizean Reef mangroves (Belize) Bocas del Toro-San Bastimentos Island-San Blas mangroves (Costa Rica, Panama) Coastal Venezuelan mangroves (Venezuela) Esmeraldes-Pacific Colombia mangroves (Colombia, Ecuador) Greater Antilles mangroves (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico) Guianan mangroves (French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela) Gulf of Fonseca mangroves (El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua) Gulf of Guayaquil-Tumbes mangroves (Ecuador and Tumbes, Peru) Gulf of Panama mangroves (Panama) Ilha Grande mangroves (Brazil) Lesser Antilles mangroves (Lesser Antilles) Magdalena-Santa Marta mangroves (Colombia) Manab� mangroves (Ecuador) Maranhao mangroves (Brazil) Marismas Nacionales-San Blas mangroves (Mexico) Mayan Corridor mangroves (Mexico) Mexican South Pacific Coast mangroves (Mexico) Moist Pacific Coast mangroves (Costa Rica, Panama) Mosquitia-Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast mangroves (Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua) Northern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves (El Salvador, Guatemala) Northern Honduras mangroves (Guatemala, Honduras) Par� mangroves (Brazil) Petenes mangroves (Mexico) Piura mangroves (Peru) R�a Lagartos mangroves (Mexico) Rio Negro-Rio San Sun mangroves (Costa Rica, Nicaragua) Rio Piranhas mangroves (Brazil) Rio S�o Francisco mangroves (Brazil) Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves (Costa Rica, Nicaragua) Tehuantepec-El Manchon mangroves (Mexico) Trinidad mangroves (Trinidad and Tobago) Usumacinta mangroves (Mexico)

Template:Terrestrial biomes

Ecozones

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Reference

Hogarth, Peter J. 1999. The Biology of Mangroves. Oxford Univ. Press. 228 p. ISBN 0198502222
Thanikaimoni, G. 1986. Mangrove Palynology. UNDP/UNESCO and the French Institute of Pondicherry, 104 p. ISSN 0073-8336 (E).
Tomlinson, P. B. 1986. The Botany of Mangroves. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
tsunami protection (http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=37762)

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External link

The story of the UNESCO Mangrove Programme (http://www.unesco.org/csi/intro/mangrove.htm)
WWF article about the mangrove biome (http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/ecoregions/global200/pages/habitat/habitat14.htm)
East African Mangroves (http://www.kenyanmangroves.com)
Coastal wetland and shoreline change mapping of Pichavaram, south east coast of India using Satellite data (http://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/nrm/coastal/mnm/ma04081pf.htm)
Status of Indian Mangroves: Pollution Status of Pichavaram Mangrove, Southeast Coast of India (http://landbase.hq.unu.edu/Workshops/OkinawaMarch2000/Papers/Subramanianpapermar2000.htm)
Mangrove Action Project (http://www.earthisland.org/map/index.htm) - Advocacy group devoted conservation, restoration and sustainable management of mangroves & related coastal ecosystemsde:Mangrove