Manual for mangrove monitoring in the Pacific Islands region

Abstract

Mangrove forests occur on low energy, sedimentary shorelines of the tropics, between mean tide and high tide elevations. Mangrove trees have physiological and morphological adaptations to the environmental stresses of their intertidal habitat, of high salinity, low oxygen, poor nutrient availability and substrate mobility. These cause the different mangrove species to prefer a particular elevation between mean tide and high tide (Figure 1). True mangrove species occur exclusively in this saline wetland environment, with adaptations such as aerial roots, halophytic strategies.