Mangrove Ecology. :D

There are three types of mangroves.

• Red Mangrove (Rhizophora Mangle)
• Black Mangrove (Avicennia Germinans)
• White Mangroves (Laguncularia Racemosa)

Mangrove's Relation to the Ecology.

Ecology is the scientific study of the distribution and abundace of life and the interactions between organisms and their natural environment. The environment of an organism includes physical properties, which can be described as the sum of local abiotic factors such as insolation (sunlight), climate, and geology, and biotic ecosystem, which includes other organisms that share it's habitat.

The word "ecology" is often used more loosely in such terms as social ecology and deep ecology and in common parlance as a synonym for the natural environment or environmentalism. Likewise, "ecologic" or "ecological" is often taken in the sense of environmentally friendly.

The term ecology or oekologie was coined by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866, when he defined it as "the comprehensive science of the relationship of the organism in the environment." Haeckel did not elaborate on the concept, and the first significant textbook on the subject (together with the first university course) was written by the Danish botanist, Eunenius Warming. For this early work, Warming is often identified as te founer of ecology.

Species of flora and fauna.
Flora

• Swamp fern
• Nipah
• Rhizophora sp.
• Avicennia sp.
• Bruguiera cylindrica
• Blind-your-eyes
• Sea Hibiscus
• Sea Holly
• Sea Poison
• Sea Derris
• Ceriops tagal

Fauna

• Barnacle
• Creeper Shell
• Horseshoe Crab
• Drill
• Mud lobster & mud lobster mound
• Mangrove oyster
• Archer fish
• Cicada
• Spider
• Collared kingfisher
• Crab
• Mudskipper
• Nerita
• Otter

Physical and Human threats of Mangroves

In addition to providing protection to the shorelines and a home for many organisms, mangroves provide many different uses for humans. For instance, mangroves are cut down to burn and produce charcoal. The charcoal is used for home cooking fuel and is also used in barbecues in the urban centres and tourist resorts. "To make charcoal, the burnt trunks and branches are stacked in a mound and covered with mud or soil and vegetation to ensure that the wood smoulders slowly for several days. The longer the wood smoulders the better the quality of the charcoal" (Bellamy & Dugan, 1993). The trees are also used for construction purposes. Not only are mangroves cut down to provide land to develop along the coastline, the larger trees are used to build the buildings, and the thinner poles/branches are used for roofing purposes.

One safe use of the mangrove trees is fishing. The mangroves support the fisheries due to the many different species of fish that live within the roots of these trees. A positive feature of this use of the mangroves is that it does not require the destruction of the mangrove trees. A dangerous threat to mangroves is oil spills. Oil spills are a large cause of destruction to the many organisms that thrive in the mangroves.

The coastal habitats in Singapore, in particular the mangrove and the adjacent wetland areas, are rapidly being destroyed and degraded due to development and its side effects. For successful securing of the future of the mangroves, public awareness of mangroves and politically and publicly supported, integrated conservation programmes are needed. However, due to the lack of public awareness about the pressing issue of nature conservation and the insufficiency in the understanding of the importance of mangroves by decision-makers, plans and actions for the conservation of the remaining mangroves have been scarce and inadequate. This manuscript will give a brief introduction to mangroves in Southeast Asia, and summarise the history of the development of mangrove areas in Singapore and the current situation pertaining to natural habitats and conservation in Singapore. It will point out the inadequacy of mangrove conservation thus far in Singapore, highlight the paucity of baseline data pertaining to mangroves in Southeast Asia, discuss the problems stemming from the lack of public awareness, argue for the conservation of Singapore's remaining mangroves and propose conservation strategies and local and regional research directions.

Where can we find mangroves in Singapore?

• Sungei Mandai Mangroves
• Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve