RMGT 230

Natural Resources Management

CBSUA
GS
Aries O. Ativo Lecture 5

Graduate School
Central Bicol State University of Agriculture
San Jose, Pili, CamarinesSur
1st Semester
Mangrove and Coastal Ecosystems
The Coastal view
• Coastal vistas are beautiful,
dramatic, inviting, and easily
accessible.
• As a result, they are people
magnets.
• In 1995 more than 2.2 billion
people, 39% of the world's
population, lived within 100
kilometers (km) of a coastline.
• Add to these the millions
more who vacation in coastal
regions annually. In 1997
more than 18.8 million
tourists visited the Caribbean
alone. 
The coastal ecosystem
• Coastal areas are commonly defined as the interface
or transition areas between land and
sea, including large inland lakes.
• Coastal areas are diverse in function and form,
dynamic and do not lend themselves well to definition
by strict spatial boundaries.
• Unlike watersheds, there are no exact natural
boundaries that unambiguously delineate coastal
areas.
The coastal ecosystem
• Coastal ecosystems, are regions of remarkable
biological productivity and high accessibility.
• This has made them centers of human activity for
millennia.
• Coastal ecosystems provide a wide array of goods and
services:
• Hosts world’s primary ports of commerce;
• Primary producers of fish, shellfish, and seaweed for both
human and animal consumption;
• Source of fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, household
products, and construction materials.
The coastal ecosystem
• Literally links the land and the sea
• In addition to their beauty and their value as a food source, coastal
ecosystems serve as a natural filtration system.
• They maintain marine water quality by filtering pollutants from
inland freshwater systems.
• Coastal ecosystems also store and cycle nutrients and help protect
shorelines from erosion and storms.
• Mangroves, wetlands, and seagrass beds filter or degrade toxic pollutants,
absorb nutrient inputs, and help control pathogen populations.
• Conversion or destruction of these ecosystems disrupts that
function, often resulting in hazards such as eutrophication and
harmful algal blooms. 
How extensive are the world’s coastal zones?
• Whereas other ecosystems are defined by a set of biologically distinct features,
coastal regions are characterized geographically — they are the border between
land and sea.
• One definition of coastal zone is "the intertidal and subtidal areas above the
continental shelf (to a depth of 200 meters) and adjacent land area up to 100 km
inland."
• Thus they encompass a range of ecosystem types, both terrestrial and aquatic.
Coral reefs, mangrove forests, tidal wetlands, seagrass beds, barrier islands,
estuaries, and peat swamps are just some of many coastal ecosystems.
• Marine fisheries is considered to be a significant part of coastal ecosystems
because as much as 95% of all marine fish harvested is caught or reared in coastal
zones.
How extensive are the world’s coastal zones?
• One estimate of the total length of coastlines worldwide is 1.6 million
km. But this may be decreasing because global warming is causing the
sea level to rise and submerge low-lying coastal land areas.
• Like global warming, conversion is also diminishing the extent of
coastal regions. Already 19% of coastal areas have been converted to
agricultural or urban use. 
 MANGROVE IS
CONSIDERED AS THE
RAINFOREST OF THE SEA
What is a mangrove?

• A Mangrove is a woody plant or plant community

which lives between the sea and the land in areas which
are inundated by tides.
• Thus, a mangrove is a species as well as a community
of plants. It can be a tree but (like a ‘rainforest plant’) it
can also be a shrub or palm. All share the ability to live
in salt water.
• Mangroves grow exclusively in tidal areas in large
stands or groves to where these areas are referred to
as their own ecological community.
Do mangroves need saltwater?
 Mangrove trees don’t need salt water to grow, but they
are a unique tree because they can tolerate it. This also
helps the trees have free range over the shoreline. They
don’t have any competition for space from other trees.

 Mangroves live in a constantly changing environment.

They live in salty ocean water when the tide is high and
are exposed to freshwaters that drain down from the
mountains, especially during times of excessive rainfall.
These changes in the type of water can also change the
temperature as well.
Where Do They Thrive?
• Shorelines throughout the warm tropics are lined with
mangrove trees. The richest mangrove communities live
in tropical and sub-tropical areas where the water
temperature is greater than 75°F (24°C), and where
there’s lots of rainfall.

• Since mangroves grow along the coastlines, lagoons,

and estuaries of the state, their domain has been
significantly reduced by land reclamation and
bulkheading of waterfront property for development.
A typical mangrove ecosystem
http://www.esd-asiapacific.com/wordpress_api/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/eco_map.jpg
Inhabitants of Mangrove ecosystem
Uses of Mangroves
The uses of mangroves fall in two major
categories:

 Productive

 Protective
Uses of Mangroves
Productive

 The indirect use of the mangrove ecosystem are in the

form of vital ecological functions such as control of
coastal erosion and protection of coastal land,
stabilization of sediment, natural purification of coastal
water from pollution.
Uses of Mangroves
Protective

 The economic benefits are many and varied.

 Apart from prawn fisheries, many other species of
economic importance are associated with mangroves;
these include crabs, shrimp, oysters, lobsters and
fishes.
Other uses of Mangroves
• Traditionally, the mangroves have been exploited for firewood and charcoal
and their uses include construction of dwellings, furniture, boats and fishing
gear around the Indian Ocean and everywhere in the Far East.

• Important source of tannins for dying, leather production and oil drilling.

• Provide food and a wide variety of traditional products and artifacts for
mangrove dwellers.

• As a storehouse of materials providing food, medicines, shelter and tools.

Importance of Mangroves
• Mangroves trap debris and silt, stabilizing the near shore
environment and clarifying adjacent open water, which facilitates
photosynthesis in marine plants.

• The fringing network on Mangroves buffers natural forces such as

hurricanes, wave action, tidal change and run-off, preventing soil
loss with its firm, flexible barrier.

• MANGROVES ARE NUTRIENT PRODUCERS that shed and drop about

seven and a half tons of leaf litter per acre per year. The
constantly-shed leaves are quickly broken down by bacteria and
fungi and released into the water, providing food for sea-life.
Importance of Mangroves (cont…)
• Important nursery feeding ground for juvenile fish and
invertebrates.

• Nesting grounds for many water birds.

• Mangrove prop roots protect and offer habitat for

mammals, amphibians, reptiles, countless unique plants,
juvenile fish and invertebrates that filter water such as
sponges, barnacles, oysters, mussels, crab, shrimps, and
oysters.
Importance of Mangroves (cont…)
• Filter from groundwater and storm water run-off that contain
harmful pesticides, herbicides, hydrocarbons and heavy metals.

• Recharge underground water supplies by collecting rainwater

and slowly releasing it.

• Recreation to hunters, fishermen, bird-watchers, photographers

and others who treasure natural areas.
• However, the intrusive actions of noisy jet-skis, happy campers and
others who disturb nesting and breeding areas, chop down mangroves
and otherwise damage this fragile environment, threaten its existence.
Philippine Mangrove
Issues and concerns
 Negros, Philippines

Sabang, Palawan

Palinpinon, Negros Oriental,

Aurora Province Philippines
Maitum Sarangani GUIMARAS
Of the world’s more than 70
mangrove species, around
46 species are known to
occur in various parts of the
country.
How much mangrove cover does the Philippines have

• The Philippines had an estimated 450,000 hectares of

mangroves in 1918 (Brown and Fisher, 1920).
• This area was reduced to only 138,000 hectares in 1993,
then shrank further to 117,000 hectares (DENR, 1995).
• It is estimated that our country lost about 8,200 hectares of
mangroves every year between 1970 and 1988.
The loss is largely attributed to the conversion of mangroves
to fishponds during the 1970s. Other factors include
reclamation for residential and industrial purposes and
overharvesting of mangrove trees for fuel.
Status of Mangroves in the Philippines

• In 1918, the country's mangrove forests were estimated to cover

5,000 square kilometres.
• By 1970, they had dwindled to 2,880 square kilometres and to
2,420 square kilometres a decade later. Recent estimates indicate
that mangroves cover only 1,397.25 square kilometres.
Mangroves in Ragay with dead Sperm Whale
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
OF MANGROVE HABITAT
CHANGES
Environmental Impacts
• Shoreline erosion especially in most of the typhoon
prone areas
• Decline in forest structure and diversity of plant species
in most of the remaining mangrove stand.
• Decline in fishery
• Negative impacts of mangrove conversion to fishponds
The decline of mangroves due to conversion to other uses brings about a consequent
decline of the following ecological functions of mangroves:

• Nursery grounds for fishes, prawns, crabs and

shellfishes
• Production of leaf litter and detritus material which
provides a valuable source of food for marine animals
• Protection of shore and estuaries from storm waves and
erosion
• Pollution sink for nearshore waters
• Wildlife habitat, and
• Biodiversity
Mangroves Need Protection

We can protect and manage mangroves by:

 Reverting abandoned fishponds to mangrove areas to increase

fisheries production

 Establishing functional Protected Areas Management Boards for

Marine Protected Areas, Parks, and Seascapes under the National
Integrated Protected Areas System

 Another way of managing mangroves is to establish nurseries, which

can provide a reliable source of seedlings for mangrove replanting
and rehabilitation.