1. What are 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.
- There are many species of trees and shrubs adapted to saline conditions.
- 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 esaries and along open coastlines.
- Mangroves dominate three quarters of tropical coastlines.
2. Importance of mangrove
- Mangroves are the first line indicators on the well being of our coastlines, a thriving community of mangroves usually indicated good water quality.
- They slow down soil erosion and some species of mangroves actually help in reclaiming land with their complex root systems.
- Their prop roots offer protection to many species of insects and fish especially two species of commercially important fish, the Sea Bass and Mangrove Jack Its also home to unusual fish like the Archer fish that captures its prey by “spitting” water at it.
- The rich insect and bug life in the mangroves attract a great number of aquatic and other birds to hunt and nest there.
- Experts also now say that if the mangroves had not been cut down (to make way for sea front bungalows) there would have been many less causalities during the last tsunami in 2004.
3. Mangroves in Singapore
- In the 19th century, mangroves were extensively found along the coastline of mainland Singapore, especially in the northern and western coasts.
- Growing along intertidal river mouths and along sheltered shores, it covered approximately 13 per cent of the land.
- Today, however, only 0.5 per cent remains, growing mainly in the northern part of the island, on some offshore islands such as Pulau Tekong and Pulau Ubin, and nature reserves at Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve and Pasir Ris Park.
- Reclaimed land from mangroves were used for other purposes in nation-building such as industry and housing. A classic example is the reclamation of large tracts of mangrove at Jurong, into what is known today as the Jurong Industrial Estate.
This is some of the research that our group have done.
Credits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangrove , http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_412_2005-01-03.html , http://thegreenvolunteers.blogspot.com/2009/04/importance-of-mangroves.html
Hope you have learnt more about the mangrove vegetation!
Look forward to our next post-Visit to a mangrove vegetation in S'pore! :)