Ecosystem Goods and Services

Ecosystem Services

The provision of habitat for aquatic and terrestrial fauna and flora cannot be overlooked.
75% of all tropical commercial fish species pass part of their lives in the mangroves, where they encounter:

• nursery grounds
• shelter
• food
  

Other ecosystem services provided by mangroves include:

• protection from strong winds & waves;

Mangroves’ protective buffer zone helps shield coastlines from storm damage and wave action, minimizing damage to property and losses of life from hurricanes and storms.

• soil stabilization & erosion protection;

The stability mangroves provide is essential for preventing shoreline erosion. By acting as buffers catching materials washed downstream, they help stabilize land elevation by sediment accretion, thereby balancing sediment loss. In regions where these coastal fringe forests have been cleared, tremendous problems of erosion and siltation have arisen.

• nutrient retention and water quality improvement through filtration of sediments and pollutants;

Mangroves have been useful in treating effluent, as the plants absorb excess nitrates and phosphates, thereby preventing contamination of nearshore waters.

• flood mitigation;
• sequestration of carbon dioxide;

Mangroves absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon in their sediments, thereby lessening the impacts of global warming; and

• protection of associated marine ecosystems

Sea grass beds and coral reefs depend on healthy mangroves to filter sediments and provide nursery grounds for resident species.

Ecosystem Goods

Traditional and indigenous coastal populations have found sustenance from mangroves, collecting products and resources in a sustainable manner for hundreds or even thousands of years, including:

• firewood
• medicines
• fibers & dyes
• food
• charcoal
• construction materials

Source: http://mangroveactionproject.org/mangroves

Where do mangroves occur?

Mangrove forests are found between the latitudes of32º N and 38º S, along the tropical and subtropical coasts of Africa, Australia, Asia, and the Americas.

The largest remaining tract of mangrove forest in the world is found in the Sundarbans on the edge of the Bay of Bengal, stretching from SW Bangladesh to SE India.

The countries with the largest area of mangroves are:

1) Indonesia
2) Brazil
3) Australia
4) Nigeria
5) Mexico

Estimates of mangrove diversity indicate that there are 16-24 families and 54-75 species worldwide. The greatest mangrove species diversity exists in SE Asia.

Only 12 mangrove species are found in the Americas, with 4 of these occurring along portions of the SE USA (Florida) coast.


Source: http://mangroveactionproject.org/mangroves

What are Mangroves?

Despite their strategic importance, mangroves are under threat worldwide. They are sacrificed for salt pans, aquaculture ponds, housing developments, roads, port facilities, hotels, golf courses, and farms. And they die from a thousand indirect cuts: oil spills, chemical pollution, sediment overload, and disruption of their sensitive water and salinity balance. Calls for mangrove conservation gained a brief but significant hearing following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Where mangrove forests were intact, they served as natural breakwaters, dissipating the energy of the waves, mitigating property damage, perhaps saving lives. Post-tsunami, the logic of allowing a country's mangrove "bioshields" to be bulldozed looked not just flawed but reprehensible.

Bangladesh has not lost sight of that logic, putting a great premium on the ability of mangroves to stabilize shores and trap sediments. A low-lying country with a long, vulnerable coastline, Bangladesh is also land starved, with a crushing population density of 2,500 persons per square mile (2.6 square kilometers). By planting mangroves on delta sediments washed down from the Himalaya, it has gained over 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares) of new land on the Bay of Bengal. The plantings are relatively new, but there have been mangroves here for as long as the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers have been draining into the bay. The vast tidal woodland they form is known as the Sundarbans—literally "beautiful forest." Today, it's the largest surviving single tract of mangroves in the world.

Bangladesh has not lost sight of that logic, putting a great premium on the ability of mangroves to stabilize shores and trap sediments. A low-lying country with a long, vulnerable coastline, Bangladesh is also land starved, with a crushing population density of 2,500 persons per square mile (2.6 square kilometers). By planting mangroves on delta sediments washed down from the Himalaya, it has gained over 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares) of new land on the Bay of Bengal. The plantings are relatively new, but there have been mangroves here for as long as the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers have been draining into the bay. The vast tidal woodland they form is known as the Sundarbans—literally "beautiful forest." Today, it's the largest surviving single tract of mangroves in the world.

In the forest's most luxuriant sections a dozen mangrove species, from feathery golpata palms to the towering sundri tree, form labyrinthine stands up to 60 feet (18 meters) tall. Beneath the sundri, the glutinous mud bristles with the tree's breathing roots. Twelve inches high (30 centimeters) and as thick as deer antlers, they grow so tightly together there's barely room to squeeze a foot between them. In drier areas, groves of semi-deciduous mangroves blaze red in the months before the monsoon. Spotted deer glide through the filtered shade, stopping abruptly when a troop of macaques shriek an alarm call. Woodpeckers hammer in the high branches, while on the forest floor dry leaves rustle with the scuttling of mud crabs. A butterfly called the Sundarban crow—charcoal with splashes of white—rests on a twig, opening and closing its wings like a prayer book.

Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/02/mangroves/warne-text/2