Yet these highly diverse and productive ecosystems occupy vast expanses of sheltered tropical coastlines and river mouths. In the past 40 years or so, biologists willing to muck through mud and tread water have begun to elucidate many of the ecological interactions that make mangroves tick. At the same time, however, our study systems are vanishing, as mangroves are converted to more pressing needs including coastal cities, ports, and resorts. Still, amidst these troubling trends, there is potentially heartening news. We can bring considerable scientific understanding and a long-standing knowledge of forestry to bear on the sound management of these forests.
Restoration can replenish mangroves, and success stories are popping up around the globe.
To start with basics, mangroves are not mangoes, and mangoes are not mangroves. Some 50 species from across the plant kingdom share a suite of physiological, ecological, and architectural adaptations that enable them to tolerate challenging environments of salt water, tidal inundation, and soils that are low in oxygen. Mangroves, like most swamps, are not always easy to negotiate, and their relative inaccessibility has both protected them from human penetration, and given them a bad rap over the years. But mangrove forests are living laboratories in which to study mechanisms of evolution and ecological interactions among plants and the diverse organisms that depend upon them. Lives and livelihoods with mangroves Mangroves have long been used for timber and wood products.