Mangroves are pretty cool

The mangroves found in the Florida Keys are an important ecosystem that provides numerous utilities to the organism that live there. Fishes for example utilize the prop roots of the mangroves to forage and hide from larger predators. Additionally, organisms such as mud crabs make dens in the detritus located under the mangroves. Other smaller crabs utilize the upper branches of the mangrove as shelter and easily navigate through the maze. Larger organisms such as crocodiles, alligators, and sharks exploit the mangroves via consuming the numerous fishes that live there.

Manatees are also found within the mangroves eating seagrasses and plethora of macroalgae to be found throughout the mangrove. During our kayaking trip macroalgae was found in large clumps almost everywhere you looked. Some birds, such as the OSPREY utilize the Keys and mangroves as their wintering grounds while other species pass through the keys further into the tropics.

The mangroves provide additional benefits to humans as well. In areas with large numbers of mangroves, there is a buffering effect protecting the islands from wind and waves. The protection is crucial during smaller storms and larger alike. During smaller storms, wave action can be severely mitigated, during natural disasters such as hurricanes however, its one of the few things that help stabilize an island. The winds and water will certainly rip the mangroves from the sediment, albeit, at the cost of a lot of energy and slowing down both.

Of the three types of mangroves found in Florida, they are distributed along a gradient with red mangroves closest to the open ocean and most tolerant of salinity changes, followed by black, and lastly white which is nearly terrestrial.

#MangrovesMatter #Ospreys

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/southflorida/habitats/mangroves/species/

http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat53/sub335/item2182.html