COASTAL AWARENESS

1
COASTAL AWARENESS

• Lesson 2
• LOOKING CLOSER
• MANGRAL ECOSYSTEM

2

• Together, beach sands, mangroves, and seagrasses
  work together to help maintain a healthy,
  productive and ecologically balanced near shore
  environments. This is because, within all of
  these ecosystems, there is a set of fragile,
  interconnecting food webs and environmental
  conditions. Small changes in a food web or in any
  of the environmental conditions, like temperature
  or pollution can destroy the ecological balance
  and prevent these "partner ecosystems" from
  providing the benefits that they do.

3

• Mangroves are trees that grow along muddy beach
  shorelines. This area of the shoreline is called
  the tidal zone. In contrast with other trees that
  grow on land, mangroves grow in saline or salty
  waters. They grow closest to the ocean and have
  prop roots which are submerged under water during
  high tide but are exposed during low tide,
  sticking out of the muddy substrate.

4

• Mangroves are important to the near shore
  environment because they provide
• 1) coastal protection from erosion
• 2) a place for small fish and other marine life
  to grow
• 3) leaves and leaf matter for fish to eat.
  Mangroves, with special help from their prop
  roots, slow down strong ocean waves and, in this
  way protect the beach shoreline from erosion.
• 4) As mangroves grow, the leaves of trees drop
  into the water and become rotten. This litter
  known as detritus serves as food for some fish
  and marine life that live in the mangrove forest,
  as well as for those that live on the nearby near
  shore environment. They also provide a good
  source of nutrients.

5
Mangroves in the United States

• Around the entrance to Port Everglades in Fort
  Lauderdale are several stands of a formerly much
  more extensive covering of mangroves. Miami Dade
  County's Biscayne Bay was formerly extensively
  fringed in mangroves. Most of these have been
  attrited by development down to isolated stands,
  however the Oleta River, an estuary in northern
  Miami Dade County has a rather large mangal that
  is still relatively intact and is now a state
  recreation area.
• Southern Biscayne Bay and Card Sound have
  extensive fringing mangroves intact, as do the
  lee side of most of the Florida Keys.
• The southern tip of the Florida Peninsula is the
  largest intact mangal in the continental United
  States. It comprises the whole southern part of
  the Everglades National Park and South Florida.
• There are several scattered stands of mangrove on
  the west coast of Florida. Like their
  counterparts on the east coast, they were
  formerly much more extensive, but have been
  attritted by development.

6
Mangroves in the United States

• Because of their sensitivity to sub-freezing
  temperatures, mangroves in the continental United
  States are limited to the coastal Florida
  Peninsula from Cape Canaveral on the east around
  the keys and up to Tampa Bay on the west. The
  mangal of the Banana and Indian Rivers of Brevard
  County and within the confines of the Kennedy
  Space Center is significant.
• The Keys and Everglades mangrove community is
  critical as a nursery for the commercially
  important Keys shrimp industry. Other important
  species that breed or live part of their life
  cycle in this habitat are the tarpon, snook,
  lemon shark, nurse shark, snapper, spiny lobster,
  trout, and bonefish. It is also the exclusive
  habitat of the american crocodile.

7
Mangroves in Mexico

• Although mangrove ecoregions are similar, the
  Mexican ecosystem holds some of the tallest
  mangrove trees, a species of red mangrove which
  serves as a nursery to fish and invertebrates,
  and provides refuge for many endangered animals.
  
• Costa Alegre is constituted by 5 coastal zones
  Bahia de Navidad, Bahia Tenacatita, Costa
  Careyes, Bahia de Chamela y Costa Majahuas, each
  one with different architectural and geographic
  characteristics.
• Coastal mangroves, like the 52 acres in La
  Manzanilla, are part of a complex and fragile
  ecosystem that connect many terrestrial and
  marine species in a protective and nurturing web
  of life.

8
Mangroves in Mexico

• The mangroves on the Pacific Coast of Chiapas
  have been recognized as some of the tallest
  mangroves in Mexico, with trees reaching heights
  of 25 m.
• They are also home to the unique yellow mangrove
  tree (Rhizophora harrisonnii), a species that was
  originally thought to be exclusive to Ecuador and
  Costa Rica
• Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), white mangrove
  (Laguncularia racemosa), yellow mangrove (R.
  harrisonii) and black mangrove (Conocarpus
  erectus) trees, as well as water zapotón (Pachira
  aquatica) dominate the tree species in this
  ecoregion. Some fruit trees including Cynometra
  petusa, chicozapote, fig trees, and guanacaste
  grow in association with mangrove trees, as do
  other plant aggregations, including coastal
  scrub, tule (Typha spp.), coastal dune
  vegetation, and palm trees.

9
Red mangrove Rhizophora mangle

• Kingdom Plantae
• Phylum/Division Tracheophyta
• Class Angiosperm
• Order Myrtales
• Family Rhizophoraceae
• Genus Rhizophora
• Identifying Characteristics
• Size/Form The red mangrove is a tall tree that
  reaches 70' to 80' in height in the tropics
  however in Florida, it is characterized as a
  short bushy tree reaching about 20' in height. It
  is characterized by its numerous above ground
  roots called prop roots.

10
Red mangrove Rhizophora mangle

• Identifying Characteristics
• LeavesThe persistent leaves are oppositely
  arranged, 3" to 5" long and 1" to 2" wide. They
  are elliptical in shape, dark green on top, and
  paler below. Leaf margins are smooth.
• Flowers The flowers on the red mangrove are a
  pale yellow and appear in the spring.
• FruitThe leathery fruit is a rusty-brown conical
  berry. Before it falls from the tree, one seeds
  germinate and send down an initial root, 6" to
  12" long. When the fruit falls this root lodges
  in the soil and the top begins to grow
  immediately. This is a unique plant adaptation to
  the wet environment.

11
Red mangrove Rhizophora mangle

• Identifying Characteristics
• BarkThe thick gray to gray-brown bark is ridged
  and scaly.
• HabitatThe red mangrove grows in brackish areas
  along creeks, bays, andlagoons.

12
white mangrove Laguncularia racemosa

• Kingdom Plantae
• Phylum/Division Tracheophyta
• Class Angiosperm
• Order Myrtales
• Family
• Genus Laguncularia
• Identifying Characteristics
• Size/Form The white mangrove is a small low
  sprawling shrub or tree that reaches 40' to 60'
  in height. It is characterized by its narrow
  rounded crown.

13
white mangrove Laguncularia racemosa

• Identifying Characteristics
• Leaves The persistent leaves are oppositely
  arranged and are 1" to 3" long. The leaves are
  leathery and possess small glands on the bottom
  of the leaf towards the outer edges.
• Fruit The leathery fruit is a reddish-brown
  drupe that contains a dark red seed.
• Bark The 1" thick reddish-brown bark is ridged
  and scaly
• .Habitat White mangrove grows in areas where
  tides may be high and also in lagoons.

14
black mangrove Avicennia germinans

• Kingdom Plantae
• Phylum/Division Tracheophyta
• Class Angiosperm
• Order Myrtales
• Family Avicennia
• Genus Avicennia
• Identifying Characteristics
• Size/Form Black mangrove is a small to
  medium-sized tree that reaches heights of 50'. It
  is small and shrub-like toward the north end of
  its range.

15
black mangrove Avicennia germinans

• Identifying Characteristics
• LeavesThe leaves are simple, oppositely
  arranged, persistent, and 2" to 4" long by ¾" to
  1 ½" wide. The oblong shaped leaves usually have
  shiny upper surfaces coated with salt crystals
  while the underneath surface is hairy. The leaf
  base is wedged and the leaf tip is rounded. The
  leaf margin is smooth and sometimes slightly
  rolled down along the side edges.
• Fruit The egg-shaped capsule is green and 1 ½"
  long by 1" wide, has splits along two edges, and
  contains one seed.
• Bark The dark-brown bark has long, vertical
  furrows between flat, scaly, squarish blocks. The
  bark sloughs off to reveal an orange-red inner
  bark.
• Habitat Black mangrove grows in the wet soils of
  coastal high-tide shores of Florida in the
  mangrove ecosystem.

16
black mangrove Avicennia germinans

17
yellow mangrove R. harrisonii

• Identifying Characteristics
• Roots Buttresses at the base of the trunk and
  knee roots.
• Leaves Small (up to 7 cm long), yellow-green,
  oval- shaped leaves occurring in groups at the
  end of branches. The leaves are often orientated
  straight up in the air to avoid strong midday
  sunlight.
• Flowers and Fruit Small green-brown flower buds
  with pale orange petals. See propagules of the
  three Ceriops species.
• Bark Cream coloured bark with dark brown spots.
• Habitat Often occurring as short, stunted trees
  (especially in very saline environments), they
  may grow to 5 m high in areas having some
  freshwater influence.

18
Buttonwood Conocarpus erectus

• Kingdom Plantae
• Phylum/Division Tracheophyta
• Class Angiosperm
• Order
• Family Conocarpus
• Genus Conocarpus
• Identifying Characteristics
• Size/Form Buttonwood is a small tree that seldom
  reaches heights of 40'. It is usually small and
  shrub-like.

19
Buttonwood Conocarpus erectus

• Identifying Characteristics
• Leaves The leaves are simple, alternately
  arranged, persistent, and are 1" to 4" long by ½"
  to 1 ½" wide. The oblong shaped leaves usually
  have dark, shiny green upper surfaces while the
  underneath surface is paler and smooth with silky
  hairs. The leaf base is wedged with a pair of
  marginal glands. The leaf tip is tapering and the
  margin is smooth.
• Fruit The fruit is a tiny reddish, leathery
  drupe. The scale-like drupes are borne in heads
  that resemble a cone that is 1" in diameter.
• Bark The dark-brown to black bark has irregular
  fissures that form flat, interlacing, scaly
  ridges.
• Habitat Buttonwood grows in the silty, muddy
  shorelines of tidal bays and lagoons, commonly
  landward of the fringe of mangrove community and
  above high tides. They are also found on the
  edges of hammocks, salt flats, marshes, and sandy
  rocklands.

20
(No Transcript)