On an excursion with my colleagues to an Intertidal zone in Nigeria (Opu arama, Kalabari) I learnt a lot about the ecosystem especially the aquatic biomass.
What is an Intertidal zone
It is the area of the foreshore and seabed that is exposed to the air at low tide and submerged at high tide, ie the area between tide marks. So it experience flooding at high tide.
This is a typical example of an intertidal zone.
What kind of plant can be found in a place as this considering the tidal pressure during flooding.
·Mangrove: A mangrove is a tree, shrub or ground fern that grows above mean sea level in the intertidal zone of marine coastal environment.
I had never seen a mangrove before until that day, and it was pretty interesting. It has three species
· Red (Rhizophora mangle),
·White (Laguncularia racemosa) and
·Black (Avicennia germinans) mangroves
I got to see the Red mangrove,
Red Mangrove ; scientifically called Rhizophoracea, it has three species (mangle, harisonii, racesoma) I was opportuned to see the racesoma . It features are multiple flowers , elongated leaves and it's flower bud has a blunt tip.
(Photocredit)[
Benefits of mangrove on our shoreline.
Mangrove provide a wide range of benefits to the ecosystem. The ecosystem services rendered are
·Diversity: The mangrove forest has many organism residing in it as habitat. Examples are periwinkle, oyster, crab, fish.
A healthy mangrove in turns makes a healthy breeding spot for aquatic organism.
·Water quality : Mangrove has the ability to filter sediment, heavy metals that could pollute the water, this is because of its connected root called prop root.
·Recreational purpose and a good source of revenue.
Dangers of not maintaining the mangroves.
This here was caused by oil spillage from drilling activities of petroleum industries around the site.
·Breeding and nursery sites for commercial products as shrimp, crab, fish were destroyed. (Photocredit)[
The destruction of their natural habitat in turn will lead to loss of such precious species.
·Water quality was reduced because mangrove maintains water quality, ie preventing fluctuations in salinity and turbidity. So destroying them will lead to contamination of the water, which is detrimental for man's consumption.
·Destruction of the topography of the land: Houses sited there were abandoned due to flooding. Healthy mangrove acts as a strong defence against storm serge, flooding, and frequent weather conditions caused by climatic changes (ie gravitational pull of the sun and moon) .My shoes were completely soaked with mud.
Conclusion
Nigeria's mangrove belong to the west Africa mangrove formation. In terms of areal coverage, Nigeria's mangrove occupy approximately 10, 515km2 . In fact it consists of 70% coastal vegetation in the tropics and sub tropics. It has so many benefits.
Hence it should be preserved wisely by
reducing the felling of mangrove trees and totally eliminate oil spills.
I care about my environment hope you do too
Reference