Ecological Value of the Mangrove Forests
Every part of the mangrove forest, from the roots to the top most branches, which may reach as high as 60 feet, provide shelter or food for a multitude of creatures .These organisms range from tiny sand flies to large tarpon offshore.
One of the birds that finds its home In the tree tops of the mangroves is the brown pelican. The pelicans share their "rookeries" with egrets, herons. wood storks, ospreys, and cormorants.
A host of other creatures make use of the mangroves to forage. Raccoons favor the coon oysters that live on the prop root of the red mangrove. Spiders weave many webs to catch unsuspecting insects: snakes slither up the tree trunks after birds' eggs and nestlings: and cormorants dine chiefly on the fish in the nearby waters. Fiddler crabs and their larger relatives the land crabs move out during the low tide to perform a large service. They aerate the soil as they probe the sediment for food, thereby increasing the supply of oxygen to the trees that attract the creatures.
However, when the tide comes in covering the roots and pneumatophores of the mangrove forest, it becomes part of a marine nursery. The mangrove forest provides a place where young fish, as well as other organisms such as blue crabs, are protected from predators and competing species which are unable to enter the lower salinity water. The young of herbivores and detritivores occur in hordes. Oysters, barnacles, and sponges along with the ribbed mussels are found in great quantities in the mangrove root zone.
It is well documented that the mangrove forest plays an important role In the ecology of the Florida Keys. The food chains and webs which begin in this rich habitat extend all the way out to the reef. They also serve as a nursery and spawning ground for many of the organisms which live in other key communities as adults. Lastly they provide protection for the delicate terrestrial communities from all but the most severe storms.