Perilous Times and Climate Change
Satellite scans confirm massive die off of world mangrove forests
by Staff Writers
Washington (UPI) Aug 18, 2010
A decline in the world's mangrove forests has been confirmed through
comprehensive and exact data gathered by orbiting satellites,
scientists say.
Scientists from the U.S Geological Survey and NASA say the area covered
by mangrove forests, among the most productive and biologically
important ecosystems of the world, is 12.3 percent smaller than earlier
estimates, research published in the journal Global Ecology and
Biogeography reveals.
The forests of trees, palms and shrubs, which grow at tropical and
subtropical tidal zones across the equator, have adapted to challenging
environmental conditions, thriving in regions of high salinity,
scorching temperatures and extreme tides, researchers say.
Increasing human activity and frequent severe storms have taken their
toll, however, resulting in a loss rate for mangrove forests higher
than the loss of inland tropical forests and coral reefs, the new data
shows.
"The current estimate of mangrove forests of the world is less than
half what it once was, and much of that is in a degraded condition,"
Dr. Chandra Giri from the USGS said. "It is believed that 35 percent of
mangrove forests were lost from 1980 to 2000, which has had an impact
on the coastal communities that use mangrove forests as a protective
barrier from natural disasters such as hurricanes and tsunamis."