How do mangroves reproduce

The fertilised seed develops into a seedling while still attached to the flower. The seedling is merely a long, cigar shaped 'stem' called a propagule and this grows for up to a year on the tree before it is ready to find a place of its own to grow. When it reaches about 20 cm 8 inches , depending on the species, it drops off and is carried by the tide. These seedlings are often washed up onto tropical beaches.

If the seedling gets carried into brackish water shallows part fresh, part salt water and is lodged into a muddy bottom, roots are quickly sent out to take hold in the soil and the stem grows upward and produces leaves. Of course, other species of mangrove do produce seeds which drop off and float in the water until they reach a brackish water area and their seed coat breaks away, allowing the seed to start a shoot.

The mangrove forest provides shelter and food for a wide range of animals, especially invertebrates and juvenile marine species. For example:. Mangroves are a living buffer between the land and the sea. The dense silt amassed by their root systems prevents erosion from their landward side while it also minimises erosion from wave activity on the seaward side.

The forest itself bears the brunt of storm activity, allowing the coast behind it to remain protected. So the next time you see a stretch of mangroves and think that they are boring - take a closer look. How to: Burning Steel Wool.

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Red mangroves have prop roots descending from the trunk and branches, providing a stable support system. Shallow widespreading roots, surrounds the trunks of black mangroves, adding to the structural stability of the tree. Other species of mangrove trees grow at higher elevations, in drier soils, do not require specialized root structures. Adaptions for salt exclusion or salt excretion allows mangroves to live where other terrestrial plants cannot.

Through physiological adaptations, mangroves are able to live in harsh saline environments. Red mangroves occur where soil salinities range from parts per thousand ppt while black and white mangroves are found in soils with over 90 ppt salinities. Salinities effectively limit competition from other plants, while mangroves have salt exclusion or salt excretion adaptations allowing survival in these environments.

The ability to exclude salts occurs through filtration at the surface of the root. Root membranes prevent salt from entering while allowing the water to pass through. Many mangrove species including Bruguiera , Ceriops , Kandelia and Rhizophora , display vivpary.

In these species, seeds germinate and develop into seedlings while still attached to the plant see picture of mangrove seed pods on tree , there can be a period of dormancy so the seedlings can be dispersed. In Aegialitis , Avicennia , Aegiceras and Nypa , there is some embryo development, but the seed case is not ruptured whilst attached to the plant, this is called cryptovivipary. Viviparous development provides a source of mangrove seedlings for replantation, without a nursery stage.

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