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Definition: mangrove from Philip's Encyclopedia

Common name for any one of 120 species of tropical trees or shrubs found in marine swampy areas. Its stilt-like aerial roots, which arise from the branches and hang down into the water, produce a thick undergrowth, useful in the reclaiming of land along tropical coasts. Some species also have roots that rise up out of the water. Height: to 20m (70ft). Major family: Rhizophoraceae.

mangrove

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
large tropical evergreen tree, genus Rhizophora , that grows on muddy tidal flats and along protected ocean shorelines. Mangroves are most abundant in tropical Asia, Africa, and the islands of the SW Pacific. The American, or red, mangrove ( Rhizophora mangle ) is found along the muddy shores and in the everglades of the Florida peninsula and on other tropical American coast lines. Many mangroves produce from their trunks aerial roots that become embedded in the mud and form a tangled network; this serves both as a prop for the tree and as a means of aerating the root system. Such roots also form a base for the deposit of silt and other material carried by the tides, and thus land is built up which is gradually invaded by other vegetation. Mangrove forests also can protect inland coastal areas by absorbing the effects of storm and some tsunami waves, but mangroves have been harvested destructively on a large scale in some areas, and their forests replaced in many cases by rice paddies, …
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Full text Article mangrove

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
large tropical evergreen tree, genus Rhizophora , that grows on muddy tidal flats and along protected ocean shorelines. Mangroves are most abundant in tropical Asia, Africa, and the islands of the SW Pacific. The American, or red, mangrove ( Rhizophora mangle ) is found along the muddy shores and in…
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Full text Article Mangrove

From The Encyclopedia of Tourism and Recreation in Marine Environments
Mangrove forests comprise a diverse range of species of salt-tolerant trees and associated vegetation that occupy the intertidal zones of estuaries in tropical, subtropical and some temperate regions, occupying a worldwide distribution of over 17 million ha. The habitats created by mangroves are…
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Full text Article mangrove

From The Macquarie Dictionary
a type of tree found in subtropical and tropical countries on salt or brackish, especially estuarine, mud-flats, and characterised by a strongly developed system of aeriferous spaces especially in aerial roots and pneumatophores, as in species of the genera Aegiceras, Avicennia and Rhizophora. …
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Full text Article MANGROVES

From National Geographic Answer Book: 10,001 Fast Facts About Our World Full text Article CLIMATES & HABITATS
ECOLOGICAL ADVANTAGES SUSTAIN NUMEROUS SPECIES such as protozoans, worms, barnacles, oysters, and other invertebrates PROVIDE NURSERY GROUNDS for shrimp and fish PROVIDE FEEDING GROUNDS for birds and crocodiles DELIVER ORGANIC MATTER along food chain PREVENT SHORELINE EROSION SHIELD INLAND AREAS…
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Full text Article mangrove

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Any of certain shrubs and trees that belong primarily to the families Rhizophoraceae, Acanthaceae, Lythraceae, Combretaceae, and Arecaceae ( palm ) and that grow in dense thickets or forests along tidal estuaries, in salt marshes, and on muddy coasts. The term also applies to the thickets and…
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Full text Article mangroves,

From The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
The life cycle of viviparous mangrove trees
tropical trees that grow with their roots in salt and brackish water. Worldwide there are 65 species belonging to twenty different plant families. Mangroves grow in dense thickets along sheltered muddy shorelines, often in estuaries where the sea water is diluted and temperatures stay above 24 °C…
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Full text Article mangrove swamp

From Science Encyclopedia: Encyclopedia of Marine Science
Mangroves, with their extensive roots, are...
Mangrove swamps or forests are coastal wetlands found along the world's tropical and subtropical low-energy shorelines that are dominated by perennial mangrove trees. These evergreen trees are tolerant of the brackish waters common to estuaries and saltier waters found along the shores of the…
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Full text Article mangrove forests

From Environmental History and Global Change: A Dictionary of Environmental History
A distinctive form of rain forest, mangroves are adapted to estuarine and coastal mudflats. The trees are supported by ‘prop’ or ‘buttress’ roots above the surface of the mud. The root systems trap mud from rivers and help to protect and even extend the coastline. They occur widely in the tropics: …
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Full text Article mangrove crab

From The Oxford Companion to Food
an English name applied in both a general sense, to more or less any crabs inhabiting mangrove swamps, and, more specifically, to Scylla serrata (described under swimming crabs ) and Episesarma palawanense or E. versicolor (also known as vinegar crabs because they are often sold pickled in vinegar). …
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Full text Article mangrove

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
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