Mangroves

LATEST TODAY'S CATCH

West Indian Manatee Portrait

May 17, 2013 - 9:24AMWest Indian Manatees, Trichechus manatus, are found in warm, shallow coastal ecosystems along the southeastern North America and northeastern South America. They graze plants in mangrove ecosystems and seagrass beds, occasionally...
May 7, 2013 - 9:45AM
This beautiful bromeliad, also called an air plant because it gets its...
Apr 26, 2013 - 9:47AM
At Carrie Bow Cay in Belize, Dr. Candy Feller explains her research on the...

SPOTLIGHT

Mangroves

Mangroves are survivors. With their roots submerged in water, mangrove trees thrive in hot, muddy, salty conditions that...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Ilka C. "Candy" Feller calls mangroves the 'nursery of the sea.' These important coastal habitats face many threats, including nutrient pollution from fertilizer runoff. That's the focus of much of Feller's work; she's a scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. In this short...
Oil and Water Don t Mix  Even After 40 Years
May 3 2010 - 6:02pm
More than 40 years after the 1969 oil spill in Massachusetts’ Wild Harbor salt marsh, environmental chemist Dr. Chris Reddy from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution finds that the oil is still present.  In this video, learn about how Dr. Chris Reddy tests the marsh for the presence of oil,...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This creek lined with mangroves is located near the Smithsonian Institution’s field station in Bocas del Toro, Panama. The tangled roots support an amazing array of life. Learn more about mangroves in the Ocean Portal's mangrove section.  
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Marc Frischer, a microbial ecologist at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, collects bacteria at the Smithsonian Institution’s field station in Belize. Smithsonian scientists and colleagues from around the world are studying mangrove diversity and the threats they face.
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Flattened against a leaf, a tree frog blends right in with the mangroves. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
Jul 22 2010 - 6:28pm
The sun sets over marshland near Ocean City, N.J.
Feb 17 2011 - 12:18pm
Mangroves thrive in hot, muddy, salty conditions that would kill most plants. But even these tough trees are threatened by human development. This lone mangrove shoot in South Bimini, Bahamas stands strong in the path of a backhoe dredging a lagoon. Mangroves, which provide habitat to diverse...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
From the water, red mangroves appear to form an impenetrable tangle of roots, trunks, and leaves—a protective barrier against storms and tsunamis. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
May 4 2010 - 1:52pm
Dr. Chris Reddy, an environmental chemist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution studies the long-term impacts of oil spills. Watch as he digs beneath the surface in Massachusetts’ Wild Harbor salt marsh to find oil that continues to impact the wetland's ecology and wildlife 40 years after a...
Apr 19 2013 - 10:05am
What is blue carbon? It's a term used to describe the carbon that is captured from the atmosphere by ocean ecosystems, mainly coastal mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes. These coastal areas can hold up to five times more carbon than tropical forests, which means they play an important role...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Thalassinidean shrimp (Thalassinidea) build complex burrows deep in the mud. More about mangroves ecosystem can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
Nov 19 2009 - 5:01pm
Smithsonian scientists and their colleagues are investigating important questions and issues related to mangrove ecosystems. • At the Smithsonian Marine Field Station on Carrie Bow Cay in Belize, scientists from a wide variety of disciplines examine the impacts of environmental change on...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am
This is a close-up view of the peat soil surface in an intact mangrove forest. Mangrove roots help to build the peat underlying mangrove islands. Their accumulation over thousands of years has built organic deposits that are many meters thick. The peat surface is highly resistant to erosion and...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am
A male mudflat fiddler crab (Uca rapax) waves its huge claw to impress females and threaten male competitors. More about mangrove swamps and forests can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Feller at White Pond on the island of Twin Cays, Belize. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
Aug 29 2012 - 6:02pm
Logistically speaking, the nearshore zone of the ocean -- the coastal areas to a depth of around 65 feet (20 meters) -- is the most-studied region of the ocean because of its accessibility. But, surprisingly, the estimates for how many species live in this region worldwide vary widely, from 178,000...