In one of the most detailed surveys ever undertaken, hundreds of animal species — from birds to primates to web-footed wildcats — have been discovered in a Cambodian mangrove forest. Team leader Stefanie Rog — a conservation biologist and senior program manager with Fauna & Flora International, which funded the study — recorded an astounding […]
There’s a mystery growing in the heart of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula: a grove of red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle), which typically live in coastal waters, thriving 124 miles inland along the banks of the San Pedro Martir River. Now, scientists think they have cracked the case. The forest is the remnants of a time around 125,000 […]
Mangroves are magic. Planting more of them could help restore the health of the planet’s lands, seas and climate. Why? It turns out, these incredible trees are doing us a lot of favors to keep many of our habitats (including human ones) healthier and safe. “Mangroves are often under-appreciated, with most people not realizing their […]
By Landolf Rhode-Barbarigos and Brian Haus Miami is all about the water and living life outdoors. Walking paths and parks line large stretches of downtown waterfront with a stunning bay view. This downtown core is where the Army Corps of Engineers plans to build a US$6 billion sea wall, 20 feet high in places, through […]
By Johnny Wood To the uninitiated, mangroves might appear to be merely coastal cousins of inland forests, but these rich ecosystems support the planet and people in unique ways, from providing breeding grounds for fish to carbon storage, to protection against flooding. Yet despite their importance, mangrove forests are under threat. Over a third have […]
By Dana M Bergstrom, Euan Ritchie, Lesley Hughes and Michael Depledge In 1992, 1,700 scientists warned that human beings and the natural world were “on a collision course.” Seventeen years later, scientists described planetary boundaries within which humans and other life could have a “safe space to operate.” These are environmental thresholds, such as the […]
By Claire Turrell Languishing in the soft, silty mud, the living fossil looked as if it didn’t have a care in the world as it feasted on the fish left stranded in the tidal mangrove pools of the Sungei Buloh wetlands. However, the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) might have been a little less at ease […]
By Melissa Gaskill During a trip to Cuba’s Gardens of the Queen a few years ago, I found myself around small mangrove islands in an area called Boca Grande. Floating on clear, calm water, my travel group and I kicked over tall seagrass beds and rays camouflaged in the sandy flats. Fish of all kinds […]
By Jun N. Aguirre An oil spill on July 3 threatens a mangrove forest on the Philippine island of Guimaras, an area only just recovering from the country’s largest spill in 2006. This latest spill stems from an explosion onboard a floating power barge in the 13-kilometer (8-mile) waterway between the city of Iloilo and […]