Features of Mangroves
- Saline environment: They can survive under extreme hostile environments such as high salt and low oxygen conditions.
- Low oxygen: Underground tissue of any plant needs oxygen for respiration. But in a mangrove environment, the oxygen in soil is limited or nil.
- Hence the mangrove root system absorbs oxygen from the atmosphere.
- Mangroves have special roots for this purpose called breathing roots or pneumatophores.
- These roots have numerous pores through which oxygen enters the underground tissues.
- Survival in Extreme Conditions: With their roots submerged in water, mangrove trees thrive in hot, muddy, salty conditions that would quickly kill most plants.
- Succulent leaves: Mangroves, like desert plants, store fresh water in thick succulent leaves.
- A waxy coating on the leaves seals in water and minimises evaporation.
- Viviparous: Their seeds germinate while still attached to the parent tree. Once germinated, the seedling grows into a propagule.
- The mature propagule then drops into the water and gets transported to a different spot, eventually taking root in a solid ground.