Name: Yuzhu Gong Due Date: 2015/10/18
Article Title: Caribbean Mangrove Swamps
Author/Source: Scientific American
Article Title: Caribbean Mangrove Swamps
Author/Source: Scientific American
A: List major ideas, concepts or key points - point by point
- Mangroves are hard to define universally.
- Its appearance is puny, monotonous and depauperate
- Mangrove communities develop only near the sea because they cannot compete successfully with freshwater flora, also for balmy conditions.
- Lack of coral reefs can support extensive mangrove swamps because the floating propagules that serve as seeds for these trees cannot reach such remote isles.
- Two broad categories for mangrove swamps: mainland or oceanic island.
- Mainland ones border continental coasts.
- Mainland mangroves must usually cope with a pronounced variation in salinity across their width.
- They are normally less aected by freshwater carried laterally than by the intermittent shifts in salinity that result from intense evaporation or from frequent tropical downpours.
- Each type of mangrove has its own niche in a mangrove swamp.
- It is resulted from the lack of a single critical nutrient, phosphorus.
- A rather unusual inhabitant of the intertidal zone is a small fish called the mangrove rivulus (Rivulus marmoratus).
- White mangroves cannot handle very salty water, so they grow on higher land.
- Black mangroves are better-suited towards saline water, so they grow in the intertidal zone.
- Red mangroves grow in deeper waters because of their stilt-like roots.
- Mangrove swamps are really bio-diverse.
- We found that mangrove seedlings take hold and grow much better in the shade than in the open, indicating that the natural repair of damaged swamps may prove too slow to keep up with the erosion of denuded land.
- Mangrove forests indeed constitute extremely delicate natural systems.
- These trees have nonetheless proved vulnerable because they are situated so directly in the path of commercial development
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B: Summarize the author's main point or idea
A mangrove forest appears puny, monotonous and depauperate, and it is hard to define both universally and ecologically. It has three types of mangrove swamps, they are red mangroves, black mangroves, and white mangroves. Red mangroves extend stilt like roots into the deeper water, beyond the peat bank that supports the trees. Toward the interior, black mangrove comes first, and then white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) mark zones of shallow floodwater and extended mudflats that develop as the tide moves in and out. Because evaporation under the intense sun can rapidly remove much of the standing water, the brine that remains in pools often contains a high concentration of salt. Hypersaline conditions in the upper reaches of the intertidal zone favor black mangrove seedlings because that species has the greatest tolerance for salt. White mangrove seedlings cannot survive the salinity and the periodic flooding that sweeps this region, and hence these trees are restricted to higher ground. Red mangrove dominates the lower reaches of the intertidal zone not only because it stands on stilt roots but also because its seedlings can better survive the rigors of the fringing environment (hardships that include a dearth of nutrients and an abundance of possible predators. There are many insects live inside of mangrove swamps, but they are disappearing in a fast rate in account of human intervention.
A mangrove forest appears puny, monotonous and depauperate, and it is hard to define both universally and ecologically. It has three types of mangrove swamps, they are red mangroves, black mangroves, and white mangroves. Red mangroves extend stilt like roots into the deeper water, beyond the peat bank that supports the trees. Toward the interior, black mangrove comes first, and then white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) mark zones of shallow floodwater and extended mudflats that develop as the tide moves in and out. Because evaporation under the intense sun can rapidly remove much of the standing water, the brine that remains in pools often contains a high concentration of salt. Hypersaline conditions in the upper reaches of the intertidal zone favor black mangrove seedlings because that species has the greatest tolerance for salt. White mangrove seedlings cannot survive the salinity and the periodic flooding that sweeps this region, and hence these trees are restricted to higher ground. Red mangrove dominates the lower reaches of the intertidal zone not only because it stands on stilt roots but also because its seedlings can better survive the rigors of the fringing environment (hardships that include a dearth of nutrients and an abundance of possible predators. There are many insects live inside of mangrove swamps, but they are disappearing in a fast rate in account of human intervention.
C: Reaction to the article
Mangrove swamps have distinctive intertidal communities occupying the dank stratum between the high and low tide levels. The sedimentary bottom of the subtidal swamp is covered with thick stands of sea grass, particularly in well-sunlit channels that gives space for algae and jellyfish to survive, and provides a wide variety of insects. These are reasons why mangrove swamps are important to us, but people are destroying them because of the commercial development and also people often cut trees and fill low-lying areas to construct housing and industrial facilities. It is going to lead to the fate of the earth’s fragile tropical shorelines and to foster legislation that might ultimately serve to protect the fascinating mangrove communities found there. I think we should realize the importance of mangrove swamps and start conserving them since they are precious.
Mangrove swamps have distinctive intertidal communities occupying the dank stratum between the high and low tide levels. The sedimentary bottom of the subtidal swamp is covered with thick stands of sea grass, particularly in well-sunlit channels that gives space for algae and jellyfish to survive, and provides a wide variety of insects. These are reasons why mangrove swamps are important to us, but people are destroying them because of the commercial development and also people often cut trees and fill low-lying areas to construct housing and industrial facilities. It is going to lead to the fate of the earth’s fragile tropical shorelines and to foster legislation that might ultimately serve to protect the fascinating mangrove communities found there. I think we should realize the importance of mangrove swamps and start conserving them since they are precious.