"Seven yeas in Sundarbans"/"Sundarban mein saat varsh" - Vibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, was my first introduction towards these magnificent heavenly trees
and their forests.
The word mangrove originates from senegelese word "mangue" meaning "into the sea".
These are found in form of huge dense thickets along the tidal estuaries, salt marshlands, muddy river deltas and coasts around the globe
in tropical and subtropical regions. There are 8 diffrent species of mangroves, identified as surbs and trees. Their familia is classified as:
Rhizophoraceae, Acanthaceae, Lythraceae, Combretaceae and Arecaceae.
The locations of these different familia are very intermixed, being a costal plant type the migration of seeds along the shores around the globe is a very common phenemenon,
and hence, the red mangroves of the rhizophoraceae familia is the most common type of mangrove found around the globe on tropical and sub tropical shorelines,
they grow closest to shoreline, furthermore, the black mangroves, from the acanthaceae familia, which grows higher above the red mangroves
are most common to the shores of bermuda, the carrebian, atlantic coasts of tropical Afica and Atlantic and pacific shores of central America.
whereas the white mangroves of the combretaceae fanilia grows even higher above on land than black mangrooves, have more of a tree like structure
and are common to the shoreline of western Africa from senegal to cameron as well as on the galapagous islands, along the coast of beremuda and
on the Pacific coast of the Americas from Mexico to northwestern Peru, on the coast lines of Newzeland, western and southern Australia.
The mangroves of lythraceae and arecaceae famila commonly known as sonneriatia and nipa palam are majorly found in south east Asian coasts.
The dense tangled "Prop Roots" (exposed supporting roots) makes tress appear to be standing above water,
whereas, the " Knee Roots" or respiratory roots (pneumatophores)
projects vertically out of the low oxygen muddy surface, allowing the "Lenticles" to absorb and circulate air down to the roots under the mud.
Apart from filtering out the pollutants from soil and water, Mangroves also play an extremely important role in costal ecosystems,
allowing both terrestrial and marine ecosystems to interact with each other,
further, protecting the shorelines from erosion by tides, floods, winds and waves.
These thick dense forests serves as a natural safe house for all kinds of organisms as their breeding, spawning and hatching grounds.
- CONTINUED.
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