Worldwide in tropical to warm temperate latitudes, Shallow, brackish, nutrient-rich, low-energy waters, Mangroves, wading birds (storks, herons, etc. Mangroves provide ideal breeding grounds for much of the world's fish, shrimp, crabs, and other shellfish. Tides also circulate nutrients among mudflats, estuaries, and coral reefs, thus feeding species like oysters that rest on the seabed. Get a snorkel and start exploring. Clear cutting for coastal development projects (including construction of shrimp farms, hotels, and other structures), harvesting for wood, and pollution all threaten mangrove forests throughout their range. As the primary species involved in forming mangrove forests prefer very warm, wet conditions, they are restricted to tropical and warm temperate latitudes around the world. The importance of mangroves. They are crucial habitat for a lot of different species as well as preventing soil erosion. Mangroves also serve as roosting and nesting sites for many of native and migratory birds. According to Kathiresan (2011), mangrove forests have the functions as follows: 1. Mangrove forests were once generally dismissed as swampy wastelands. 5%!! Without the protection that mangrove forests provide the juveniles of these species, their adult populations and the fishers who rely on their capture suffer. Mangrove forests provide many of the resources upon which coastal people depend for their survival and livelihood. 3. Crab-eating macaque monkeys, fishing cats, and giant monitor lizards hunt among the mangroves, along with endangered species such as olive Ridley turtles, white breasted sea eagles, tree climbing fish, proboscis monkeys, and dugongs. The high diversity of marine organisms that can be found on seagrass habitats promotes them as a tourist attraction and a significant source of income for many coastal economies along the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean. Where dense forests cover spaces to about (161 000 km 2) across those areas of the world. Healthy mangrove habitats are considered productive ecosystems that are beneficial to both marine and human lives. Mangroves provide physical habitat and nursery grounds for a wide variety of marine organisms, many of which have important recreational or commercial value. Scientists estimate that at least one third of all mangrove forests have been lost during the last few decades. Introduction Mangrove plants (Shura plants) grow in the intertidal zones especially in marine areas of salty soil and compact clay soil in the wave-protected beaches in front of the seas and oceans coasts and estuaries in equatorial and tropical regions. Once we conserve the marine life it means that we are also conserving the habitat of the marine living beings. Mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral reefs are often found together and work in concert. The Gulf of Mexico's importance to marine life has been highlighted in recent years in the wake of a major oil spill in 2010, and the discovery of the presence of Dead Zones, which the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) describes as hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in oceans and large lakes, that have resulted from "excessive nutrient pollution from human activities … A high concentration of nutrients and plankton flows in and out of the lagoons with the tides, making mangrove forests important breeding and nursery grounds for juvenile sharks, green turtles, penguins, flamingos, turtles, rays, seabirds, fishes and invertebrates. And, historically, mangroves also provided fodder for livestock and served as an important building material in pre-oil times. Mangrove forests also provide important nursery habitat for many species of fishes and invertebrates, including those that are commercially important fisheries species, which later move to coral reefs and other ecosystems as they mature. ), mangrove crabs, Juvenile habitat for fisheries species, carbon storage, coastal protection, firewood. One of the most important roles that mangroves play environmentally is as a barrier between the mainland and the ocean. Mangrove forest provide support as it can withstand high salinity besides having a great mechanism that able to survive in flooding area. Importantly, networks of these sediment-trapping forests buffer the coastline against wave-induced erosion and provide coastal ecosystems and coastal communities a vital line of defense against strong, tropical storms. 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