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...
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,...
Nov 4 2010 - 11:46am
The Sundarbans site in Bangladesh was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997.
Climate Change and the Chesapeake Bay
Feb 14 2011 - 4:14pm
Students are working with the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Md., to develop an informal education plan that will communicate information about Chesapeake Bay marsh restoration and explain the effects of climate change and sea-level rise on the bay's marshes. As part of the Third Student Summit...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Mangroves canopies support an amazing array of life—including this mangrove yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia bryanti), the most common songbird in the mangroves of the Caribbean’s Mangal Cay. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dip your head below the water's surface in a mangrove forest and an entirely new ecosystem is revealed. The twisting mangrove roots, which appear to float unrooted in the water, support a great diversity of life—including sea anemones, brittle stars, and sea urchins. The roots also serve as a...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am
Fringing mangroves in the Pelican Cays, Belize, were killed by dredge material that overflowed and smothered the aerial roots of trees along the shoreline. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
Lessons from the Panama Oil Spill
Jun 23 2010 - 11:22am
On April 27, 1986, an estimated 50,000 barrels of medium-weight crude oil drained from a ruptured storage tank at a refinery in Panama, polluting the coast and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Galeta Marine Laboratory, located at the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. For 15 years...
Mar 31 2011 - 4:17pm
This week at the Smithsonian Ocean Portal we embark on an experiment we're calling "Make Me Care." The concept is simple: we ask a renowned expert to tell us why we should care about his or her marine subject matter. We're giving them only about a minute on video to accomplish the task, so it's a...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am
Rivulus fish live in bodies of water that sometimes become contaminated with hydrogen sulfide—an extremely toxic compound that smells like rotten eggs. When this happens, the adaptable fish wiggle into damp places like logs. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
May 17 2013 - 9:24am
West 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 eating small fish or invertebrates.
Investigating Nutrient Pollution s Impact on Mangroves
Apr 26 2013 - 9:47am
At Carrie Bow Cay in Belize, Dr. Candy Feller explains her research on the effect of excess nutrients on mangrove swamps. Feller runs the Animal-Plant Interaction Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.
Jan 27 2010 - 3:24pm
In Edgewater, Maryland, scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center examine the influences of climate change, excess nutrients, and surrounding habitats on mangroves. They have also established additional study sites in mangrove forests in Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, and Saudi...
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This shrimp farm in southern Belize is just one example of how mangroves worldwide are giving way to human development. In just the last decade, at least 35 percent of the world's mangroves have been destroyed. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
Mangroves abut blue ocean waters.
Jul 14 2010 - 10:01pm
Follow researchers Candy Feller and Dennis Whigham from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center as they scramble, climb, crawl, and creep through the tangled roots of a mangrove forest. In this episode of the  Podcast of Life, learn what’s threatening these unique ecosystems where the...
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
Arching mangrove roots like these help keep trunks upright in the soft sediments at water’s edge. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.