Most people know of mangroves and consider these environments to be horrible places. Where else do you find crocodiles, snakes, biting insects and a large variety of creepy, crawly creatures? Where else do you sink up to your waist in gooey, sticky, smelly mud?
Now these people are right, mangroves are not pleasant places for us to visit however what they do not appreciate and understand is the:
1. Mangrove environment
The term mangrove may be used to refer to an individual mangrove plant or to the habitat in which it lives. Worldwide there are, "said to be 69 species of mangrove plants belonging to 20 families - 34 of these mangrove species are in Queensland"! (Depends on which reference book you consult.)
Mangrove forests are found between the average sea level and the high tide mark (intertidal zone) of the tropical to subtropical coastal rivers, estuaries, bays and islands.
Mangroves have the ability to grow in these areas because of the large amounts of silt deposited by coastal rivers. However these soils are often soft and muddy and low in oxygen. To be able to exist, mangroves have developed some unique ways of surviving and flourishing in such a harsh environment.
2. Mangroves are unique
How?
- They provide shelter for animals.
- They provide a habitat for animals.
- There is no other ecosystem where sea and land animals mix so well.
- They are the most fertile ecosystems in the world.
3. Mangroves are important
How?
- The Queensland commercial fishing industry is worth approx $700 million a year.
- It is estimated that about 70-80% of fish caught commercially are dependant on mangroves as some part of their life cycle.
- The fishing industry provides approx 20,000 jobs in Queensland alone.
- The recreational fishing industry in Australia is worth approximately $2.2 billion a year.
- About 600,000 Queenslanders go fishing annually.
It basically comes down to no mangroves – no crabs or fish.
Before we look at what animals we will find at the Holloways Beach Environmental Education Centre we need to remember something we discussed when we studied "Mangrove Plants" ie. the enormous amount of leaf litter is vital to many of the food chains/webs of the animals in the mangroves. Again we could say no mangrove leaf litter – no mangrove animals.
- Black mangrove (PDF, 134KB)
- Blind your eye mangrove (PDF, 180KB)
- Cannonball mangrove (PDF, 167KB)
- Cedar mangrove (PDF, 166KB)
- Grey mangrove (PDF, 169KB)
- Large leafed Orange (PDF, 170KB)
- Looking glass mangove (PDF, 161KB)
- Mangrove Apple (PDF, 166KB)
- Myrtle mangrove (PDF, 163KB)
- Red mangrove (PDF, 94KB)
- River mangrove (PDF, 74KB)
- Yellow mangrove (PDF, 156KB)