1. Environments Unit: Mangroves
NSF Grant DRL

2. Mangroves of Southern Florida
Living on the Edge
Mangroves of Southern Florida
Everglades Foundation Copyright ©

3. Mangrove Swamp
A mangrove swamp contains dense forests of one or more mangrove species. It has saltwater to brackish areas subject to tidal fluctuations, sheltered from high energy wave action. These areas often serve as nursing grounds where young marine life is protected during development.

4. Mangrove Swamp - Common Plants
Red mangroves
Black mangroves
White mangroves
Buttonwood
String lily
Photosource:
Because of fluctuation in water’s salt content, plants often have salt-secreting glands that remove ingested salt particles. Root adaptations increase stability of mangrove trees in the soft sediments along shorelines.

5. Mangrove Swamp Common Animals
Mangrove tree crab
Horseshoe crab
Blue crab
Grey snapper
Mangrove water snake
Loggerhead sea turtle
Roseate Spoonbill
Wood Stork
Brown Pelican
Bald Eagle
Raccoon
West Indian manatee
Photo source:

6. Red Mangrove
The red mangrove’s shallow prop roots extend from the lower stem like arching spider legs, giving it the nickname “the walking tree”. Drop roots hang down from the branches of the upper stem.

7. Salt Extruder
Parts of the roots that are above ground (and above water) contain small pores or lenticels that allow the roots to take in oxygen, which then moves down through the tissue and prevents water and salt from entering during high tide.

8. Red Mangrove Leaf
The dark green leaves of the red mangrove are larger than those of the other mangrove species, and help the tree retain water. The red mangrove gets its name from the reddish layer just beneath its thin greyish bark.

9. Cigar-like Propagule
Its seedling, or propagule, is long and cigar shaped. The red mangrove grows closest to the coast and is even found in off-shore mud flats and sand bars. Propagules contain fresh water and are often preyed upon by animals such as raccoons or crabs for their fresh water content.

10. Black Mangrove
More inland is the black mangrove. Its root system consists of shallow underground cable-like roots that radiate outward many feet away from the stem.  

11. Pneumatophores
Black mangroves have peg-like aerial roots called pneumatophores that extend upwards from the cable roots. These pneumatophores contain lenticels that help in oxygen exchange.

12. Silvery underside of leaf
The black mangrove gets its name from the dark, blackish bark. The leaves have a silvery underside and are able to excrete salt.

13. Lima bean-shaped propagule
Its propagule looks like a lima bean.

14. White mangrove
The white mangrove is found even further inland and its root system is able to exclude salt by filtering brackish water.  

15. Glands on petioles
It is the smallest of the true mangroves and has oval shaped leaves with a distinct gland-like opening on the leaf stem, called a petiole.

16. Triangular propagule

17. Mangrove Zonation
Intertidal
zone
red
white
black

18. What are Ecosystem Services?
Ecosystem services are benefits that people get from healthy ecosystems. Things like clean drinking water, clean air, and the plants used for many medicines are all examples of ecosystem services.
The health and well-being of people depend on these services. Natural ecosystems of south Florida and the plants and animals within them provide people with benefits that would be very difficult to duplicate. Many of these benefits are performed for ‘free’, but are worth trillions of dollars.

19. Mangrove Ecosystem Services
The mangrove swamp provides many ecosystem services, such as providing nurseries for the young of about 30% of commercial fishes and recreation. Mangroves are also a first line of defense to protect the coast from soil erosion.

20. Effects of Climate Change on Mangroves
Temperature
CO2 Concentrations
Changes in Salinity
Sea Level Rise
Severe Weather
Hurricanes, Storm Surge