Mangroves as Coastal Defenders: Ecosystem Services and Conservation Imperatives

Mangroves are unique intertidal ecosystems found in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, that they provide habitat for a wide variety of aquatic and land animals. These ecosystems are extremely productive everywhere in the world while being delicate and rarely distributed. Mangroves have extremely developed morphological and physiological adaptations to adverse conditions to deal with such a hostile habitat. They maintain and protect coastal areas while nourishing the coastal water with nutrients. With rapid industrialization and urbanization, heavy metal pollution has become one of the most prominent problems in the ecological environment of mangrove ecosystems. The relatively high concentration of nutrients and metals suggests that water is in very dreadful condition, which will ultimately affect flora and fauna of this ecosystem.