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Mangroves: A Potential Vegetation Against Sea Level Rise

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Mangrove Forests in India

Abstract

Mangroves possess the ability to adapt to changes in sea level by growing upward in place, or by expanding landward or seaward. Mangroves produce peat from decaying litter fall and root growth and by trapping sediment from the ambient water. The process of building peat helps mangroves keep up with sea level rise. Mangroves can also expand their range despite sea level rise if the rate of sediment accretion is sufficient to keep up with sea level rise and if migration is not blocked by local conditions, such as infrastructure (e.g., roads, agricultural fields, dikes, urbanization, seawalls, and shipping channels) and topography (e.g., steep slopes). The potential of mangroves to combat sea level rise has been explained in this chapter with several regional case studies.

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  1. Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Abhijit Mitra

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Mitra, A. (2020). Mangroves: A Potential Vegetation Against Sea Level Rise. In: Mangrove Forests in India. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20595-9_6

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