The Advantages of Mangrove Forest

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Approximately thirty percent of the earth’s land is covered in forests. Forests can be divided by considering their characteristics and location to several types, but the one that is quite unique from others is a mangrove forest. There are about forty million acres of mangrove forests around the world. Southeast Asia supports the world’s largest area of mangroves, accounting for forty percent of the world’s total. The mangrove forest is a very distinct ecosystem that can be found in saline coastal habitats fundamentally in the tropics and subtropics. The mangrove ecosystems serve many important functions, both directly and indirectly beneficial to humans. This paper clarifies the advantages of mangroves into three types, namely physical, biological, and commercial advantages, in term of their functions. One classification of the advantages of mangroves is a physical advantage. Mangrove forests are essential for preventing erosion of shoreline and riverbanks. Mangrove plants form communities that help stabilize land elevation by a buildup of sediment from materials washed downstream, thereby balancing sediment loss. Mangrove roots slow the water’s flow, reducing and preventing erosion, and those roots also collect debris and mud that will eventually extend the edge of the coastline outwards. Mangrove plants are useful in nutrient retention and water quality improvement by treating sewage and other waste matter, absorbing excess nitrates and phosphates, and preventing contamination of waters, through filtration of sediments. The anaerobic mangrove sediments can also trap heavy metals and pesticides without harm to trees. Hence, mangrove ecosystems can incorporate or trap inorganic nutrients, heavy metals or pesticides that would otherwise flow to the sea. Mangrove roots and trunks also prevent and reduce impacts from wind action, wave action, storm, hurricanes,
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