| الوصف: |
A world checklist of mangroves, compiled by taxonomic experts and based on peer-reviewed literature. ... : Mangroves are the only trees that are capable of thriving in salt water and form unique intertidal forests at the edge of land and sea. Mangroves, defined as ‘tree, shrub, palm or ground fern, generally exceeding one half meter in height, and which normally grow above mean sea level in the intertidal zone of marine coastal environments, or estuarine margins’ (Duke, 2006), constitute one of the most threatened ecosystems (Farnsworth& Ellison, 1997; Valiela et al., 2001; Alongi, 2002; Duke et al., 2007). Due to the widespread distributions of most mangrove tree species few are listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ (Polidoro et al., 2010), and many others are listed as ‘least (global) concern’. Yet, both mangrove species and entire mangrove ecosystems are locally threatened throughout their distribution range despite their numerous goods and services. Mangrove ecosystems provide habitats for numerous animals and micro-organisms (Cannicci et al., 2008; Nagelkerken et al., 2008), live ... |