What’s the news?

• A team of scientists from the department of forest ecology, Kerala Forest Research Institute, department of plant ecology, Ghent University, Belgium, has found that mangrove plants are heavily equipped to fight climate change.

News in detail

• The team found that mangrove plants have a special phenomenon called foliar water uptake (FWU), which is a mechanism that enables plants to acquire water from the atmosphere through their leaves.
• The study was envisaged to assess the FWU capacity of six different mangrove species belonging to four genera using a series of submersion experiments in which the leaf mass increase was measured and expressed per unit leaf area.
• As mangroves live in a saline sediment water environment, the mechanism of FWU might be of vital importance to acquiring fresh water and growth.
• The amazing ability of mangrove plants to take up water from the rain and atmospheric water makes them a good candidate to answer climate change.

About Mangroves

• Mangrove swamps are coastal wetlands found in tropical and subtropical regions.
• Mangroves belong primarily to the families Rhizophoraceae, Acanthaceae, Lythraceae, Combretaceae, and Arecaceae.
• They are characterized by halophytic (salt loving) trees, shrubs and other plants growing in brackish to saline tidal waters. 
• These wetlands are often found in estuaries, where fresh water meets salt water.

Significance of mangroves

• A wide diversity of plants and animals are found in mangrove swamps. Since these estuarine swamps are constantly replenished with nutrients transported by fresh water runoff from the land and flushed by the ebb and flow of the tides, they support a bursting population of bacteria and other decomposers and filter feeders.
• Because mangroves create dense foliage and close proximity of trees, they protect shorelines from damaging winds and waves. A series of studies in the early 2000s discovered that mangroves with an average height of 6-10 metres could shorten a cyclone’s waves by 60%.
• Their protective role has been widely recognized especially after the devastating Tsunami of 2004.
• Mangrove forests stabilize the coastline, and help prevent erosion by stabilising sediments with their tangled root systems.
• Mangroves also have a big impact on climate. Mangroves are powerhouses when it comes to carbon storage. Studies indicate that mangroves can sequester greater amounts of carbon than other trees in the peat soil beneath. They store this carbon for thousands of years.
• The intricate root system of mangroves also makes these forests attractive to fish and other organisms seeking food and shelter from predators.
• Many people living in and around mangroves depend on them for their livelihood. The trees are a source of wood for construction and fuel. The ecosystem provides local fishermen with a rich supply of fish, crabs and shellfish. The ecosystem also supports tourism.

Extension

• Mangroves can be found in more than 120 countries and territories in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The largest extent of mangroves is found in Asia (42%) followed by Africa (20%), North and Central America (15%), Oceania (12%) and South America (11%).
• In India, the deltas of the Ganges, Mahanadi, Krishna, Godavari, and the Cauvery rivers contain mangrove forests.
• The Sundarbans in West Bengal is the largest mangrove region in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It spans from the Hooghly River in West Bengal to the Baleswar River in Bangladesh.
• Gulf of Kachchh harbours one of the major mangrove formations of India. Pichavaram in Tamil Nadu has a vast expanse of water covered with mangrove forests. It is home to many aquatic bird species.
• The backwaters in Kerala also have a high density of mangrove forest.

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/water-uptake-feature-of-mangroves-helps-fight-climate-change-study/article65681992.ece
2. https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/mangrove-swamps