Abstract
O n the islands of the Belize Barrier Reef, the roots of the red mangrove dip like long fingers into the sea. They are so thickly encrusted with marine organisms that they are like living paintings—Kandinsky canvases of vibrant color and form. Ver-million, gray, and brick-orange sponges compete so fiercely for space that they form long, luxuriant living icicles that drip off the sides. Where mauve and jet-black sea squirts have gained a footing, they jut out like jewels. Feather-duster tubeworms display their fragile plumes, withdrawing them in a flash into gnarled brown tubes if disturbed. Currents ripple the coronas of sea anemones—parchment-white tentacles with baby-pink tips. Shoals of baby squid perform comical synchronized swimming routines.A sea urchin in a mangrove-root alcove twitches its long black spines. Strangest of all, to my eye, is a rust-colored arrow crab that looks like an underwater daddy longlegs with a pair of dainty blue pincers at the end of each claw.
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Further Reading
General
Aquatic Botany 89 (2) (special mangrove issue). 2008.
Field, Colin. 1995. Journey among Mangroves. Okinawa, Japan: International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2007. The World’s Mangroves 1980–2005, Forestry Paper 153. Rome: FAO.
Journal of Sea Research 59 (1–2) (special mangrove issue). 2008.
MacNae, William. 1968. “A General Account of the Fauna and Flora of Mangrove Swamps in the Indo-West Pacific Region.” Advances in Marine Biology 6: 73–270.
Mastaller, Michael. 1997. Mangroves: The Forgotten Forest Between Land and Sea. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Tropical Press.
Saenger, Peter. 2002. Mangrove Ecology, Silviculture and Conservation. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Spalding, Mark, Mami Kainuma, and Lorna Collins. 2010. World Atlas of Mangroves. Stirling, VA: Earthscan Publications.
Tomlinson, P. B. 1986. The Botany of Mangroves. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ecological role of mangroves
Alongi, Daniel. 2009. The Energetics of Mangrove Forests. New York: Springer Science.
Luther, David, and Russell Greenberg. 2009. “Mangroves: A Global Perspective on the Evolution and Conservation of Their Terrestrial Vertebrates.” BioScience 59: 602–12.
Coastal buffer role of mangroves
Barbier, Edward. 2006. “Natural Barriers to Natural Disasters: Replanting Mangroves After the Tsunami.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4 (3): 124–31.
Walters, Bradley B. 2008. “Mangrove Forests and Human Security.” CAB Reviews 3 (64): 1–9.
Mangroves, shrimp, and people
Bergquist, Daniel. 2008. “Colonised Coasts: Aquaculture and Energy Flows in the World System: Cases from Sri Lanka and the Philippines.” Geografiska regionstudier 77: 192 pp.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2009. The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008. Rome: FAO.
MacKenzie Jr., Clyde. 2001. “The Fisheries for Mangrove Cockles, Anadara spp., from Mexico to Peru, with Descriptions of Their Habitats and Biology, the Fishermen’s Lives, and the Effects of Shrimp Farming.” Marine Fisheries Review 63 (1): 1–39.
Martinez-Alier, Joan. 2002. The Environmentalism of the Poor: A Study of Ecological Conflicts and Valuation. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Primavera, J. H. 1997. “Socio-economic Impacts of Shrimp Culture.” Aquaculture Research 28: 815–27.
Websites
Bimini Biological Field Station (Shark Lab), http://www6.miami.edu/sharklab/index.html
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, http://steadystate.org/learn/blog/
Lewis Environmental Services (ecological mangrove restoration), http://www.mangroverestoration.com
Mangrove Action Project, http://www.mangroveactionproject.org
Manzanar Project, http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/manzanar/default.htm
Smithsonian Mangrove Biocomplexity project, http://www.serc.si.edu/labs/animal_plant_interaction/index.aspx
US Geological Survey National Wetlands Center, http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov
World Wildlife Fund Shrimp Dialogue, http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/aquaculture/dialogues-shrimp.html
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© 2011 Kennedy Warne
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Warne, K. (2011). Candy and the Magic Forest. In: Let Them Eat Shrimp. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-024-8_8
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