Mangroves

Mangroves as Flood Protection

Storm damage and floods have increased over the last few years due to a myriad of factors. One of them is increased coastal development. We are quickly removing nature’s natural defenses against storms and floods.

Mangroves act as nature’s first defense against storm surges and waves. They also protect estuaries and coastlines from erosion. These attributes make them perfect flood mitigators and can minimize storm damage in coastal areas. Mangroves have special roots that are very adept at holding sediments in place. Their unique ability to grow in salt water and in intertidal zones allows mangroves to act as a buffer against wave action. If you remove mangroves, there is no barrier between the ocean and the land. Unfortunately, coastal development is doing exactly that.

Mangroves can reduce wave energy by more than 60% within the first 100m. Planning coastal development around the ecosystems present so their function is not disrupted has many benefits for us. Globally mangrove forests are worth more than US$ 65 billion each year in coastal protection. In the United States, China and Taiwan mangroves protect a lot of high-value assets. In poorer countries, mangroves protect people from storms and flooding. Mozambique is the 7th country in line of those who benefit most from mangroves. Their flood protection abilities are worth more than US$1 billion.

The US and China are the two countries who benefit most from the little mangrove forest they have remaining in monetary terms. Mangrove forests have been extensively damaged and degraded across the globe. We have lost an estimated 40% of our mangrove forests to date. Mangroves are the most valuable in places that are the most vulnerable to climate change impacts because they protect adjacent ecosystems and the people who live there. In monetary terms mangroves are most valuable in places where they protect high-value coastal homes, buildings and infrastructures.

Plant some mangroves here: Get Started

 

Some Links
Nature

 

 

Author:

Layla Olefs

Sustainability Manager and Co-Founder of White Green Blue.

Layla is on a mission to create positive impact and to spread awareness about our beautiful home. As a marine conservationist and PADI Dive Master her passion is the marine world and, of course, mangroves. She is the author of our Ecology and Culture blog series. Stephen Olefs, our Community Development Coordinator, is taking the lead in our Green Tech blog series.

Mangroves

What Makes Mangroves Unique?

Many of us probably have never heard of mangroves before. If you are reading this blog post, you are likely not one of those people. Your knowledge of the existence of mangroves is already something that makes you special. 

 

Mangroves are what some ecologists would call a marginal ecosystem. This is because their limits are very well defined within a small range of extreme conditions. Being a marginal ecosystem is not unique in itself, but the members of these ecosystems are uniquely adapted to those specific set of conditions. Hydrothermal vents, alpine meadows, and desert oasis are other examples of marginal ecosystems. 

 

Mangroves are uniquely adapted to the tidal fluxes and ranges of estuaries and coastlines of the tropics. They only thrive in those specific environments. This is why restoring degraded habitats can be so tricky, the entire system is based on a specific set of environmental factors. For mangroves, each mangrove tree species is adapted to certain values of water and soil salinity, how long their roots can be submerged in water, how deep the water can be, the type of muddy or sandy soils, how much wave action there is,… Many conditions and environmental factors. Nature is smarter than it looks, especially when it concerns marginal ecosystems. 

 

Marginal ecosystems are low in biodiversity. This is because the environmental factors each creature has to be adapted to are extreme. Not that many species can handle the resulting stress of those extremes. Hydrothermal vents, for example, are dominated by worms, crabs and chemosynthesizing bacteria. The competition among species to survive in these extreme conditions is low, the pressure lies in surviving the conditions themselves. Mangroves are a bit of an outlier here because they are oddly biodiverse in many places across the globe.

 

Each mangrove forest is different from another and not all forests are biodiverse. Mangroves in Egypt only consist of two mangrove tree species. However, mangroves in Indonesia can have upwards of 40 mangrove tree species. Mangroves are a link between the land and sea, and so, species found in mangrove forests range from land mammals to corals. Mangroves act as nurseries to many fish, sharks, and turtle species. Approximate 20% of coral reef fish rely on mangroves during at least one phase of their life cycle. On the other side, mangrove canopies make for great nesting areas for many local or migratory birds. Mangrove roots are great attachment sites for bivalves such as oysters and mussels. Sponges and tunicates take advantage of mangrove roots too. 

 

So, you see, even though mangroves aren’t as biodiverse as tropical rainforests or coral reefs, they are an essential link between the two ecosystems. Very few species are purely mangrove species. Most are at home in adjacent ecosystems; rainforests, rivers, seagrass meadows, coral reefs and only make use of mangrove forests periodically when the conditions are within their own biological limits or if there is food that can be consumed and shelter than can be taken advantage of. 

 

Mangroves are pretty cool, aren’t they?

 

Plant some here: Get Started

 

Some Links

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12071315

 

Author:

Layla Olefs

Sustainability Manager and Co-Founder of White Green Blue.

Layla is on a mission to create positive impact and to spread awareness about our beautiful home. As a marine conservationist and PADI Dive Master her passion is the marine world and, of course, mangroves. She is the author of our Ecology and Culture blog series. Stephen Olefs, our Community Development Coordinator, is taking the lead in our Green Tech blog series.

Primary Versus Secondary Forests

Primary forests (or any type of primary habitat) is habitat that has not been modified by humans before. They are the “untouched” patches in the heart of the vast forests. They are not really untouched, but they haven’t been logged before and humans haven’t harmed those forest patches directly. . .yet. 

 

Secondary forests are those that have been deforested and then replanted. They come in various degrees of health and habitat complexity. When humans plant trees, we plant them in a certain pattern. We also do not plant the same species. Secondary forests can hold anywhere from 30-80% of the original biodiversity of the primary forests. 80% Of original biodiversity would mean an incredibly successful replanting activity and a rare one for that matter. 

 

Conserving primary forests (and other primary habitat) is of utmost importance as they are the volts of biodiversity. Brazil alone has lost 700 000 km2 of primary forests to date, that is approximately the size of Zambia or Chile. We have lost approximately 20% of the Amazon Rainforest to date. More forest is disappearing everyday. Deforestation rates have been increasing again after seeing a decade of decreased rates from the early 2000s to 2015. The development of roads has been a big driver because when a forest can be accessed easily it is more likely to suffer from illegal, or even legal, logging practices. 

 

To help, you can support restoration projects (make sure they are planting local species and trying to mimic nature the best they can). This is not only about the trees but the stability of the planet’s ecosystems across the world and our own health. You can also become more aware of where your products and food come from. Choose products from brands who are actively working on making their supply chains deforestation free. Know what you are supporting when you buy something!

 

Some Links

Evaluating land use change trajectories following forest loss in Indonesia

Primary Forest Degradation and Secondary Re-growth Dynamics in the Brazilian Amazon

Avian ecological succession in the Amazon: A long‐term case study following experimental deforestation

 

 

Author:

Layla Olefs

Sustainability Manager and Co-Founder of White Green Blue.

Layla is on a mission to create positive impact and to spread awareness about our beautiful home. As a marine conservationist and PADI Dive Master her passion is the marine world and, of course, mangroves. She is the author of our Ecology and Culture blog series. Stephen Olefs, our Community Development Coordinator, is taking the lead in our Green Tech blog series.

What Are Ecosystem Services?

Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits ecosystems provide us, humans, with. There are many different kinds of benefits ecosystems provide, it all depends on the ecosystem and how healthy it is. When ecosystems are degraded and damaged they provide us with less benefits.

 

Let’s look at forests. A forest can provide us with food, it helps maintain water cycles and prevent floods, forests are nature and nature is good for our mental health, they hold natural resources with the obvious one being wood, and much more. Mangrove forests, specifically, protect shorelines and riverbeds from erosion and storm or wave damage. They are very effective carbon sinks and are fish nurseries which means they are productive fishing grounds for locals. Mangroves, like all forests, also provide us with natural medicines. 

 

Kelp forests, the underwater equivalent of a forest, provide us with fish to eat, habitat for charismatic wildlife that we visit on eco-tours or while doing water sports, they are wave breakers and capture carbon from the oceans’ waters. The kelp itself can be harvested and used in various products such as pudding and toothpaste, it is also edible in many cases. 

 

Even deserts provide us with ecosystem services such as; medicines, water and food from their native plants, they provide nutrients for ocean creature as the sands blow into the oceans and they are culturally important for many peoples. 

 

These benefits are slowly lost or degraded as the ecosystem degrades. Reasons for degradation are plenty from direct destruction to pollution to climate change. However, we would face a multitude of challenges without ecosystem services. Coastal wetlands and shallow marine ecosystems can help us counter erosion and sea level rise, they are also great carbon sinks together with tropical forests. Many medicines have been discovered thanks to natural compounds found in nature. More than 3 billion people rely on the oceans as their primary protein source. Can you imagine a world where we stand to lose all of that? That world is the one you live in. 

 

Start making a difference and plant mangroves today. 

 

Some Links

More Info on Desert Plants

 

Author:

Layla Olefs

Sustainability Manager and Co-Founder of White Green Blue.

Layla is on a mission to create positive impact and to spread awareness about our beautiful home. As a marine conservationist and PADI Dive Master her passion is the marine world and, of course, mangroves. She is the author of our Ecology and Culture blog series. Stephen Olefs, our Community Development Coordinator, is taking the lead in our Green Tech blog series.

Corals Are Keystone Species

Coral reefs are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. Their closest rivals are tropical rainforests. In each ecosystem there are species who have a larger impact on the ecosystem than other species. They are called keystone species. In coral reefs, as the name suggests, corals are the keystone species. 

 

Stony corals, the corals that make calcium carbonate skeletons, are at the basis of reef structures. These skeletons are secreted by the coral polyps. Each year, corals grow a few millimetres or several centimetres depending on the species. The intricate structures the corals create are home to many fish and invertebrate species, they find protection there from their predators and places to spawn. 

 

Threats are very common for coral reefs but unfortunately, healthy corals also means a more stable ecosystem. This is not to say that overfishing and pollution (or other negative impacts) are not a problem if they do not directly affect the corals. Coral reef fish and invertebrates are still incredibly important for the function of coral reef ecosystems. Ecosystem health is linked to the diversity and health of the keystone species. 

 

Coral bleaching which can lead to coral death is one of the most talked about threats to coral reefs. Bleached corals need several months to several years to recover, time that is not necessarily given to them before the next bleaching event or stressor takes place. When coral reefs are unhealthy they are more likely to turn into algal fields with only a fraction of reef diversity. Corals are food for many fish species. After coral die-off events, such as bleaching, fish biodiversity can decrease with 60%. When fish species that rely on corals directly disappear, a food source for other species disappears too. This changes the internal dynamics on the ecosystem and some of these changes are not reversible. 

 

When corals are disturbed the complexity of their skeleton also changes and becomes less “dynamic”. Less coral species means less variety in shapes and sizes of corals and therefore also less habitat and shelter for reef fish. The complexity of coral structures are mediators between predation and competition of reef inhabitants.

 

Indirectly, coral reefs have an impact on the entire ocean’s biodiversity, including many commercially important fish species. They also have an impact on the oceans ability to act as a carbon sink. I am sure you are all aware that we are burning too many fossil fuels and the healthier our ecosystems, the better prepared we are. Unfortunately, coral bleaching is a common occurrence on many reefs across the globe in today’s world. That is not to mention all the other stressors our reefs are facing. 

 

Reef health decline does not only have ecological consequences but also economic ones. The Great Barrier Reef had an economic value of AU$ 7.9 billion in 2015-2016. When reef health declines, so does its economic value due to either a decrease in fishing catches or a decrease of tourism. On a global scale coral reefs are estimated to be worth US$ 1 trillion annually as they provide services and goods to 850 million people. Global reef tourism was estimated at an annual value of US$ 35.8 billion. Losing reefs due to coral bleaching and other human-caused stressors would mean a big economic loss. 

 

Some Links

Coral Reefs: Tourism, Conservation and Management

Effects of bleaching-associated mass coral mortality on reef structural complexity across a gradient of local disturbance

Ecosystem restructuring along the Great Barrier Reef following mass coral bleaching

Effects of Coral Bleaching and Coral Loss on the Structure and Function of Reef Fish Assemblages

 

Author:

Layla Olefs

Sustainability Manager and Co-Founder of White Green Blue.

Layla is on a mission to create positive impact and to spread awareness about our beautiful home. As a marine conservationist and PADI Dive Master her passion is the marine world and, of course, mangroves. She is the author of our Ecology and Culture blog series. Stephen Olefs, our Community Development Coordinator, is taking the lead in our Green Tech blog series.

Coral Bleaching

In our previous post we discussed that corals live in mutualism with phytoplankton. Mutualism is a type of relationship where both partners benefit from the interaction. Phytoplankton are single-celled plants that can be found in all bodies of water. This relationship between the corals and phytoplankton is at the basis of corals bleaching. 

 

Healthy corals come in all shades of brown and some species of corals are stunningly vibrant and colourful. Unhealthy, bleached, corals are white. 

 

Healthy Reef: Scuba Diving

 

Credit: ACR center of excellence for coral reef studies (flickr)

 

Corals, polyp colonies, are filter feeders. This means they rely on the flow of water to bring food to them. Small particles of food floating in the water column land on their sticky tentacles and can be put in their mouths. The coral species that live in a mutualistic relationship with phytoplankton rely on the plants for food. The single-celled plants live in the coral’s tissues where they are safe from the harsh environment of the open water. There are a few types of phytoplankton who live within coral tissues and they are collectively called zooxanthellae. 

 

Zooxanthellae can photosynthesize. If we all take a moment to think back to high school biology classes we should recall that plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose. The same goes for zooxanthellae. Mutualistic corals live in shallow waters where the light still penetrates, this is so that their buddies can photosynthesize. The glucose produced by zooxanthellae is food for the corals. So corals and zooxanthellae trade safety for food. 

 

Coral bleaching is the process of corals expelling the zooxanthellae from their tissues. Corals can survive for a few days to a few weeks without zooxanthellae. When the average daily temperatures of the water rises by 1 degree celsius for a few days or more, corals start the bleaching process. They do this because they are stressed by the heat. If the elevated temperatures last for several weeks, as is happening in many places across the tropics, corals die. More than two thirds of corals can die on a single reef due to coral bleaching in a single season. 

 

To know more how this is impacting our oceans stay tuned for our next blog: Corals Are Keystone Species.

 

 

Some Links

Coral Bleaching Live

Rising Ocean Temperatures are “Cooking” Coral Reefs | National Geographic

 

 

Author:

Layla Olefs

Sustainability Manager and Co-Founder of White Green Blue.

Layla is on a mission to create positive impact and to spread awareness about our beautiful home. As a marine conservationist and PADI Dive Master her passion is the marine world and, of course, mangroves. She is the author of our Ecology and Culture blog series. Stephen Olefs, our Community Development Coordinator, is taking the lead in our Green Tech blog series.

Corals Are Animals

Those beautiful reef landscapes are not what they seem to be. The very cool—but somewhat weird—corals that many of us view as plants, are in fact, not plants! Coral gardens are not the same as underwater flower gardens because corals are animals and can’t photosynthesize. Corals are more like the “Bob the Builders” of reefs. They are tiny animals grouped together in calcium carbonate structures they make themselves. The reason many people think they are plants is because they act in a similar way. They do not seem to eat anything and are found in sunny, shallow waters. Plus plants are the basis of most ecosystems on land. If you take a closer look you will see corals are made of thousands of little polyps, each polyp is an individual animal. 

 

Coral polyps (Goniopora sp.) Sharm El Sheikh south Sinai Egypt, Red Sea. Credit: Javier Sandoval.

 

What is a polyp? 

 

Corals are a type of invertebrate animal in the phylum Cnidaria. This means they are part of an animal group that does not have an internal skeletal system. Other animals in the same phylum are anemones and jellyfish but corals are the only ones who make their own exoskeleton (external calcium carbonate structures). Entire reef systems and white sandy beaches are all possible thanks to corals! 

 

Corals live in a mutualistic relationship—a win-win situation—with dinoflagellates, which are a type of phytoplankton, which, in turn is a type of single-celled plant. Corals act as a safe home for the dinoflagellates, and in return the dinoflagellates, called zooxanthellae, produce glucose (sugar) through photosynthesis, which the coral can “eat”. Both parties benefit from this relationship and as mutualistic partners, they rely on each other to thrive. 

 

Corals can lose their dinoflagellates and this is called coral bleaching. Learn more about coral bleaching in our next blog post. 

 

Author:

Layla Olefs

Sustainability Manager and Co-Founder of White Green Blue.

Layla is on a mission to create positive impact and to spread awareness about our beautiful home. As a marine conservationist and PADI Dive Master her passion is the marine world and, of course, mangroves. She is the author of our Ecology and Culture blog series. Stephen Olefs, our Community Development Coordinator, is taking the lead in our Green Tech blog series.

Keystone Species… What Are They?

 

Some species are more important than others because they have a disproportionately large impact on their ecosystem. Many charismatic and uncharismatic species alike are keystone species. Corals are a popular one. Mangroves are one too. You might know about sea otters and their positive impact on kelp forests. 

 

Each ecosystem has at least one keystone species that makes up the basis of that ecosystem. We will go over a few examples to give you a better idea of what it means to be a keystone species. Let’s start with mangroves. Mangrove trees are the keystones of mangrove forest ecosystems. Without mangroves, a mangrove forest would not and could not exist. Mangrove roots and the trees’ ability to have their roots submerged by water periodically or full-time is at the basis of mangrove ecosystems. The roots allow for a specific type of habitat that many species rely on. Think about all the benefits mangroves provide to humans too! (If you don’t know, check out our Get Started page and follow us on social media). 

 

Sea otters and kelp in the Pacific Northwest are keystone species of kelp forests. Kelp for the obvious reason, just like mangroves, are the basis of that ecosystem. Sea otters are also crucial for kelp to thrive as sea otters eat kelp’s main predator; sea urchins. Without sea otters, sea urchin populations can boom and they can eat an entire kelp forest at a surprising speed. What is left is a sea urchin barren. 

 

Coral reefs have corals as their keystones. Without corals a coral reef could not exist because, well the name says it all, but also because corals physically build the reef themselves. A group of corals called Scleractinia can secrete calcium carbonate (stony) skeletons which are responsible for the complex habitat that an immense array of species depends upon for survival. 

 

By now you can tell that ecosystems are usually named after their keystone species if they are plants or, as is the case of coral reefs, are thought to be plants by many people. 

 

Share your favourite keystones in the comments! My personal favourites are corals and mangroves. As a diver the underwater world is the most exhilarating, and yet peaceful, place to be. Mangrove roots and coral coves always have surprises in store. You never know what you will encounter or experience. 

 

Author:

Layla Olefs

Sustainability Manager and Co-Founder of White Green Blue.

Layla is on a mission to create positive impact and to spread awareness about our beautiful home. As a marine conservationist and PADI Dive Master her passion is the marine world and, of course, mangroves. She is the author of our Ecology and Culture blog series. Stephen Olefs, our Community Development Coordinator, is taking the lead in our Green Tech blog series.

The Phyla of the Animal Kingdom

The number of phyla in the Kingdom Animalia is contested, here we will follow BBC in a really cool article where they cover 35 phyla. This essentially means there are only 35 kinds of animals. Take a moment to think about all the animals you know and I want to bet you that they will only cover a few species classified in 4 or 5 of those 35 existing phyla. 

 

To clarify what a phylum is; it is a group of organisms who share a common ancestor and have similar developmental patterns, DNA structures,… Each Kingdom of life is divided into phyla and then again further divided until you reach the species level of classification.

 

Here is a list of all the existing animal phyla with relevant pictures for those phyla you should be familiar with from your own animal encounter experiences.

  1. Acanthocephala
  2. Acoelomorpha
  3. Annelida
  4. Arthropoda
  5. Brachiopoda
  6. Bryozoa
  7. Chaetognatha
  8. Chordata
  9. Cnidaria
  10.  Ctenophora
  11.  Cycliophora
  12.  Echinodermata
  13.  Entoprocta
  14.  Gastrotricha
  15.  Gnathostomulida
  16.  Hemichordata
  17.  Kinorhynota 
  18.  Loricifera
  19.  Micrognathozoa
  20.  Mollusca
  21.  Nematoda
  22.  Nematomorpha
  23.  Nemertea
  24.  Onychophora
  25.  Orthonectida
  26.  Phoronida
  27.  Placozoa
  28.  Platyhelmithes
  29.  Porifera
  30.  Priapulida
  31.  Rhombozoa
  32.  Rotifera
  33.  Sipuncula
  34.  Tardigrada
  35.  Xenoturbellida 

 

This list is organised alphabetically, so not according to the order you might find them in textbooks. Now for the 4 or 5 phyla most of you might know species from; Annelida, Chordata, Cnidaria, Echinodermata and Mollusca. 

Annelida; this group consists of segmented worms. Anyone come up with earthworms while thinking of species they know? Earthworms belong to this phylum because they have those segmented bodies. 

Chordata; Any fish, bird, reptile, amphibian or mammal you can come up with belongs in this phylum. Chordata is the phylum of animals with a backbone, literally those species who have a spine at least at some point during their lives. 

Cnidaria; For any ocean-loving-non-biologists out there (because being a biologist would be cheating for this exercise) cnidaria is the phylum of jellyfish and corals. For those of you who thought corals were plants, they are most definitely not. 

Echinodermata; Anyone think of sea stars or sand dollars? They belong to this phylum. The cool thing about this phylum is that these animals were the first deuterostomes, meaning they develop their butthole before any other hole during their embryonic development. Humans and all Chordates are deuterostomes too! At some point in our life, we were all just a**holes. 

Mollusca; these are one of my favourites because this is the phylum nudibranchs belong to. Nudibranch is a fancy word for sea slug. Bivalves like clams and oysters, as well as slugs and snails belong in this phylum. 

 

This was an incredibly brief intro to the Kingdom of Animalia but can you see the scope and weight of the term biodiversity now? Look at what you knew existed and all the other phyla we have not even mentioned? And this is only one of the Kingdoms. 

 

Let that sink in. 

 

We are connected, there is no way we could not be. 

 

Say it with me, again,… BIODIVERSITY IS IMPORTANT! 

 

Author:

Layla Olefs

Sustainability Manager and Co-Founder of White Green Blue.

Layla is on a mission to create positive impact and to spread awareness about our beautiful home. As a marine conservationist and PADI Dive Master her passion is the marine world and, of course, mangroves. She is the author of our Ecology and Culture blog series. Stephen Olefs, our Community Development Coordinator, is taking the lead in our Green Tech blog series.

The Kingdoms of Life

Contrary to human kingdoms, these are not ruled by a King. Rather, nature is divided into groups based on their likeness to one another. There are many classification systems of life but I will talk about the main one that is widely accepted across the globe. Life is divided into 2 main groups which are further divided into subgroups…many, many times until you reach the “species” classification. 

 

The 2 main divisions are the Prokaryotes and the Eukaryotes. This division is based on whether or not the organism’s DNA is held in a nucleus within their cell/cells. The Prokaryotes consist of the Kingdoms Bacteria and Archaea. Both these groups are single-celled organisms that do not have a nucleus to store their DNA in. 

 

The Eukaryotes are subdivided into 4 Kingdoms; Plantae, Animalia, Fungi, Protista. Plantae we all know as the Kingdom of plants, so this would be any plant you can possibly think of, this is the Kingdom mangroves belong to. Animalia are all the animals, any animals you can think of, this is the Kingdom mudskippers belong to. Fungi are, well, the fungi, so your mushrooms, yeasts and molds. Then, last but not least, although very complicated, we have the Protista. These are single-celled and sometimes multicellular beings that differ from other organisms. They differ in many ways and some only differ in one way. The best way to think of these guys is as small microorganisms (usually the case) that have their DNA stored in their cells’ nucleus unlike bacteria and Archaea. 

 

Further distinctions among organisms are made based on several factors such as RNA, DNA, their development pathways and their common ancestors, to name a few. All of these terms might be unfamiliar to those of you who forgot all about your high school biology lessons or never had them to begin with. The takeaway of this blog is that this is the most generalised version of classifying life. It gets a lot more complicated. I hope this is giving you more of an awareness of just how complex, how interconnected and how biodiverse life is. 

 

Stay tuned to learn more about Phyla next week. Have you ever hear that word before? I’ll show you how much more life there is than you ever thought there would be. 

 

Author:

Layla Olefs

Sustainability Manager and Co-Founder of White Green Blue.

Layla is on a mission to create positive impact and to spread awareness about our beautiful home. As a marine conservationist and PADI Dive Master her passion is the marine world and, of course, mangroves. She is the author of our Ecology and Culture blog series. Stephen Olefs, our Community Development Coordinator, is taking the lead in our Green Tech blog series.