While we were in Phuket, we toured the mangrove forests. Not only were they beautiful but mangroves are incredibly important for the environment, economy, and safety of many places. The formal definition of a mangrove is a plant that can survive in salty water, but most of the mangroves we saw were trees so I will be using the colloquial definition of mangroves as trees for this blog. Although brackish (mixing of fresh and saltwater) water is present throughout most coastlines in the world there are only around 40 types of mangrove worldwide, which creates a mostly homogeneous plant covering. This is due to the fact that salt water is incredibly toxic for plants and it is very difficult to overcome this issue, requiring tremendous amounts of energy.
This unique ecosystems host a motley crew of organisms that are only found in these areas. In the water, archer fish hunt flying insects by spitting jets of water at them, causing them to fall into the water and get devoured. Mudskippers are fish that inhabit the shoreline and spend more time on land than in the water. They have evolved organs to store water, similar to reverse SCUBA gear! Mangroves are also home to monkeys, crocodiles, and many visitors from the open ocean that seek sanctuary when young or to lay eggs.
From this diversity, many fisherman will live off of the mangroves, providing fish to the local economies. We stopped off at a fishing village during our tour and were able to experience a completely new way of living. The people living on the floating village relied on the fish in the waters for more than half of their income, the rest coming from the wild rubber trees. One of the floating villages we saw was home to over 2,000 people and had a large mosque!
Mangroves are also incredibly important in acting as a barrier for the land when storms and tsunamis approach. Similar to dunes, barrier islands, and barrier reefs, mangroves will absorb the initial impact of storms and tsunamis which weakens the effect on the land. This was incredibly important for Phuket in the 2004 tsunami that wrecked the island. If the mangroves weren’t present, the death toll would be much higher and the damage worse. Mangroves also decrease erosion levels and will easily grow back after a disaster due to their rapid growth strategies.
