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Mangrove Ecosystem
SCI/256
03/08/2013
Susanne Marshal

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The Mangrove Ecosystem is essential for both the environment and humans, human intervention has damaged this environment and now we are learning to restore it.

The Mangrove Ecosystem is a type of specialized coastal wetland found in tropical and subtropical regions. It is characterized by salt loving trees, shrubs and other plants that grow in brackish saline tidal waters. These wetlands are found where freshwater meets saltwater and are infamous for their impenetrable maze of woody vegetation. The Mangrove swamp is inherently a depositional anoxic environment. They can incorporate, trap inorganic nutrients, heavy metals, and pesticides that would otherwise flow to the sea, degrading the quality of coastal waters. Mangrove swamps are also important in regard to shoreline erosion control and ecological productivity. There are three species of the mangrove tree, red, black and white. The red mangrove are easily recognized by its distinctive arching roots because the bottom part of its trunk branches that arch in the air before the entering the water. Black mangrove, often grow more inland, help in supplying the plant with air in submerged soils, it is easy to identify from its belowground roots, gray-brown, pencil-like items that emerge vertically from the mud, their physical stability helps to prevent shoreline erosion, shielding inland areas from severe damage during hurricanes and tidal waves. The intricate tangle of springy prop roots and low tangled growth make them especially resistant to uprooting by hurricane winds and waves. . While the white grow even farther inland with no outstanding root structures. Human interaction from clearing the area have been using the wood from the black mangrove and buttonwood trees to produce charcoal and its leaves have been used in tea, medicine and livestock feed. Mangroves are the breeding ground for many kinds of fish and shellfish. The maze of roots offers their larvae and juveniles food and protection against larger predators. The prop roots of the Red mangroves also develop rich communities of marine invertebrates and algae. Mangrove wildlife is also varied and abundant, animals reside in the canopy, roots, and the associated lagoons and mud flats. The mangroves are also an important habitat for seasonal visitors and others who spend only part of their lives there. Natural stress on the mangrove system is by cyclic storms or salt accumulation. In a dry environment mangrove development is affected. In the former case, the damage encountered is loss of foliage, uprooting and erosion. Full recovery takes several years, however, regeneration is almost immediate due to the mangrove propagates. To maintain high growth rates mangroves remove large quantities of inorganic nutrients. These forests are dependent upon the magnitude of these external sources of minerals to maintain their high productivity. Human stresses is a result of direct or deliberate intervention. The recovery from these are much slower and in some cases may never occur. Such stresses include reclamation, charcoal production, overfishing and harvesting, conversion to agricultural lands, coastal development, garbage disposal and pollution.

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Human activity often transforms the physical or chemical characteristics, making it unsuitable for mangrove thus trickling down the ecosystem. Humans alter the soil arrangement making anaerobic zones more oxygenated and preventing dead zones. It is debatable if this is a positive since this is a natural occurrence. Governments have realized that mangroves are essential to the environment and have adopted mangrove conservation and restoration programs, they are trying to save the mangroves by replanting them. In Florida, it is against the law to cut back or remove mangrove without a permit. They are saving mangrove trees to save the shoreline from erosion, and bee keepers have set up their hives close to these areas to benefit not only themselves but to assist in the reproduction of the mangrove tree because they reproduce by producing flowers that bees and insects pollinate . Once pollinated it germinates and grows roots before dislodging and planting itself. Scientists in Kenya developed the first community mangrove conservation project. The project will have a positive impact on mangroves, a benefit to the local community and also have potential to influence in mangrove management. With this project hundreds of new mangrove trees are being planted along the beach. In hopes to repopulate what was destroyed, and hope that others will follow in their steps.
There is still a lot to be known about this ecosystem and we can only learn from the uninhibited areas so that we can attempt to make a human/environment relationship with it.

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References
(n.d). Retrieved from http://www.earthwatch.org/europe/newsroom/science/news-3-carboncredit.html
Mcs. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.marine-conservation.org.uk/mangroves.html