Monday, November 26, 2012

What are the Sundarban Mangroves exactly?

There are 3 wildlife sanctuaries that are on the islands close to the borders of India. They are called Sundarbans East, West and South. "The sanctuaries are intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mud flats and small islands of salt tolerant mangrove forests. The area is flooded with brackish water during high tides which mix with freshwater from inland rivers." (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/798, 2012)  Mangrove forests are special because they have to have a broad range of salinity, which limits the amount of species that can live in a Mangrove forest. The forests transfer organic matter to the water which provides nutrients for marine animals. "They provide critical habitat for numerous species of fishes and crustaceans that are adapted to live, reproduce, and spend their juvenile lives among the tangled mass of roots, known as pneumatophores, that grow upward from the anaerobic mud to get the trees' supply of oxygen." (http://www.eoearth.org/article/Sundarbans_mangroves, 2008). Mangrove forests create a complex system of ecosystems. 
Citation: 
1."The Sundarbans - UNESCO World Heritage Centre." UNESCO World Heritage Centre. UNESCO, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/798>.
2. World Wildlife Fund (Lead Author);Mark McGinley (Topic Editor) "Sundarbans mangroves". In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth September 3, 2008; Last revised Date July 4, 2012; Retrieved November 22, 2012 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Sundarbans_mangroves>

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