Mangroves

Mangrove forests grow on tropical coasts with soft soils and are flooded twice daily by the tide. They are important nursery areas for many species of fish. Mangroves and coral reefs have a symbiotic relationship – the reef protects the coast where the mangroves grow from being eroded by the sea, and the forest traps sediment washed from the land that would otherwise smother the reef.

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About Mangroves

Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S. The saline conditions tolerated by various species range from brackish water, through pure seawater (30 to 40 ppt), to water of over twice the salinity of ocean seawater, where the salt has become concentrated by evaporation (up to 90 ppt).

The many species of trees and shrubs adapted to saline conditions are not all closely related, and the term "mangrove" may be used for all of them, or more narrowly only for the mangrove family of plants, the Rhizophoraceae, or even more specifically just for mangrove trees of the genus Rhizophora.

Mangroves form a characteristic saline woodland or shrubland habitat, called mangrove swamp, mangrove forest, mangrove or mangal. Mangals are found in depositional coastal environments where fine sediments (often with high organic content) collect in areas protected from high energy wave action. They occur both in estuaries and along open coastlines. Mangroves dominate three quarters of tropical coastlines.

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Other Terrestrial Habitats

Ecozones where this habitat is found

Useful adaptations for this habitat

Where you find Mangroves

Map showing the location of the Mangroves habitat

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