1. LIFE - Mudskipper Mud Wrestles | Fish - YouTube

3. MANGROVE FORESTS

4. What are “mangroves?
Specialized tropical trees that grow in brackish wetlands
Form mangrove forests or “mangals”

6. Most mangrove forests exist within 30 degrees of the Equator

7. In the U.S., South Florida, and isolated areas on the gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas. In the Florida Everglades is a large freshwater drainage basin that has developed an extensive system of mangroves.  

8. "If there were no mangroves, Florida would not be the angler's paradise that it is, " says Capt. Pete Greenan of Sarasota, "Mangroves are where you will find the snook, mangrove snapper and juvenile game fish. Mangroves are simply the base of the entire coastal food chain."

9. Most Common Species
Red Mangrove
White Mangrove
Black Mangrove

10. Bark Identification

11. Tree Characters

12. Pneumatophores

13. Differences in leaf structure between the 3 species

14. Reproductive seeds of the 3 most prominent species

15. Mangrove Dispersal Fertilized Seed - Drops off maternal plant
Floats horizontally initially
Dispersal to novel environments ideally
Float vertically with appropriate environmental conditions
Rooting and growth

16. Mangrove Adaptations:
Frequently inundated with water from changes in tides leads to…
Greater root mass for…

17. Stabilization and air exchange

18. Mangroves release (extrude) salt by secreting it through the leaves or sequestering it in bark

19. Pneumatophores
Aerating Roots that exit the soil to allow trees to exchange gases in waterlogged soil

23. Why are mangroves important to humans and ecosystems?

30. known as the "rainforests by the sea"
breeding grounds for fish, shrimp, crabs, shellfish and snails. Ex. mudskippers
LIFE - Mudskipper Mud Wrestles | Fish - YouTube

32. nesting sites for many shore birds and home
to many monkeys and lizards, sea turtles
Caiman/Crocodile
Great Blue Heron

33. mangrove blossoms and fruit make up a large part of animals’ diets.

35. What kind of sport fish depend on mangroves?
Snook, redfish, seatrout, tarpon, ladyfish, black grouper, sheepshead, mangrove snapper, black drum

36. “The world has lost about 20 percent of its wetland mangrove forests since 1980”, the United Nations said Thursday in a new report to mark World Wetlands Day, February 2!