Mangroves

“Mangrove forests are typically made up of trees, shrubs, and palms that have adapted to the harsh conditions of high salinity, warm air and water temperatures, extreme tides, muddy, sediment-laden waters, and oxygen-depleted soils. They are fertile nurseries for many marine species, and also serve as a first line of defense against hurricanes and tsunamis by dissipating wave and wind energy.” (Earth Observatory, 2010)

Sources

Earth Observatory. 2010. “Mapping Mangroves by Satellite.” Accessed April 11, 2025. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/47427/mapping-mangroves-by-satellite.

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Translated by Dr. Mengyi Jin

红树林因其自然景观和丰富的生物多样性而全球闻名，这一独特的生态系统在其所处的沿海环境中发挥着重要的作用。除了维持生物多样性，红树林还能有效抵御海岸侵蚀和风暴潮（Menendez et al. 2020），并具有很高的碳汇能力（Lovelock & Duarte 2019）。此外，红树林还有助于支持沿海居民生计, 维持海洋健康, 以及保护生物多样性（Dasgupta et al. 2022；Mallick et al. 2021）。尽管红树林在生态系统中具有关键作用，但据估算，自20世纪50年代以来，全球约有35%的红树林栖息地已被破坏或退化（Valiela et al. 2001）。受到人类活动和气候变化的影响，这一趋势预计仍将持续（Akram et al. 2023）。

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