View source for Mangrove

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|genus=Mangrove
|Min ht metric=cm
|Temp Metric=°F
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[[Image:MangroveTreeMalaccaMalaysia.JPG|thumb|300px|right|[[Pneumatophore]]s penetrate the sand surrounding a mangrove tree.]]
'''Mangroves''' are [[tree]]s and [[shrub]]s that grow in [[saline water|saline]] coastal habitats in the [[tropics]] and [[subtropics]] &ndash; mainly between [[latitude]]s {{degree|25}} N and {{degree|25}} S. The saline conditions tolerated by various species range from [[brackish water]], through pure [[seawater]] (30 to 40 [[Salinity|ppt]]), to water of over twice the salinity of ocean seawater, where the salt has become concentrated by [[evaporation]] (up to 90 ppt).<ref name=Mathias /><ref name=NHMI>[http://www.nhmi.org/mangroves/phy.htm Morphological and Physiological Adaptations: Florida mangrove website.]</ref>

The many species of trees and shrubs adapted to saline conditions are not all closely related, and the term "mangrove" may be used for all of them, or more narrowly only for the mangrove [[Family (biology)|family]] of plants, the [[Rhizophoraceae]], or even more specifically just for mangrove trees of the genus ''[[Rhizophora]]''.

Mangroves form a characteristic saline [[woodland]] or [[shrubland]] habitat, called '''mangrove swamp''', '''mangrove forest''', '''mangrove''' or '''mangal'''.<ref name="Hogarth">Hogarth, Peter J. (1999). ''The Biology of Mangroves'' Oxford University Press, Oxford.</ref>  Mangals are found in [[Sedimentary depositional environment|depositional]] coastal environments where fine sediments (often with high organic content) collect in areas protected from high energy wave action.   They occur both in [[estuary|estuaries]] and along open coastlines.  Mangroves dominate three quarters of tropical coastlines.<ref name=NHMI/>

{{Inc|
Mangrove. A name applied to certain small trees that grow along tropical and semi-tropical seacoasts and produce many trunks or rooting shoots whereby the plant holds its place or marches on tide flats. The name is usually restricted to Rhizophora Mangle (Rhizophoraceae), which grows in tropical America and the seacoasts of Florida. The black mangrove is Avicennia  nitida (Verbenaceae) of the Gulf coast and tropical America; and the name mangrove is applied to species of this genus in other parts of the world.
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