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Mangroves are hardy shrubs and trees that thrive in salt water and have specialised adaptations so they can survive the volatile energies of intertidal zones along marine coasts. A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal ...
The unique ecosystem found in the intricate mesh of mangrove roots offers a quiet marine habitat for young organisms. [30] In areas where roots are permanently submerged, the organisms they host include algae, barnacles, oysters, sponges, and bryozoa, which all require a hard surface for anchoring while they filter-feed.
A marine habitat is a habitat that supports marine life. Marine life depends in some way on the saltwater that is in the sea (the term marine comes from the Latin mare, meaning sea or ocean). A habitat is an ecological or environmental area inhabited by one or more living species. [1] The marine environment supports many kinds of these habitats.
Mangroves are important habitat as both fish nursery and brackish water habitats for birds and other coastal species. Though climate change is expected to extend the mangrove range further north, sea level rise, extreme weather and other changes related to climate change may endanger existing mangrove populations. Other threats include ...
Low island mangroves are most at risk, as demonstrated in Bermuda, where sea level rise has exceeded peat accumulation rates periodically, resulting in landward die back of mangrove stands. [98] Climate change may reduce global mangrove area by 10–15%, but it is a long term, less significance threat to the current 1–2% annual loss from ...
Humans often aggregate near coastal habitats to take advantage of ecosystem services. For example, coastal capture fisheries from mangroves and coral reef habitats are estimated to be worth a minimum of $34 billion per year. [64] Yet, many of these habitats are either marginally protected or not protected.
Coral reefs, seagrasses, and mangroves buffer habitats further inland from storms and wave damage as well as participate in a tri-system exchange of mobile fish and invertebrates. Mangroves and seagrasses are critical in regulating sediment, freshwater, and nutrient flows to coral reefs. [136]
The mangroves cover 175 km 2 (68 sq mi) of area. [4] Despite a global decline in mangrove ecosystems, the area of Red Sea mangroves has grown from 1972 to 2013. [5] The ecoregion serves as an important habitat for migratory birds, such as cormorants, egrets, herons, kingfishers, ospreys, pelicans, and waders.