Zooming into the coast (because that is where I am now), mangroves form really cool communities. Many people think that mangroves do not represent high biodiversity because there are very few mangrove tree species. In my research, I am only looking at five different tree species. This does not seem like much, especially when compared with the hundreds of tree species that live in the Amazon. However, the fact that there are only a few mangrove tree species does not mean that the forest is unhealthy. Also, there is high diversity in other organisms that make up the mangrove forest community. For example, I have friends here who are studying the insects found in mangrove forests. There is a huge variety of inspects that live within mangrove forests, including many species that have not even been discovered yet! Do you want to discover a new species? Maybe you should think about studying insects!
Species!
One really cool mangrove species is called Rhizophora harrisonii (its scientific name). This species is a type of red mangrove, which is the group of mangroves that is most commonly found along the coast of Ecuador. It is a super interesting species because it is a hybrid (combination) of two other red mangrove species! Although all Rhizophora harrisonii individuals are the same species, they can look really different. Some are taller than others, some have larger leaves, and some have more distinct roots.
Another example of variety in species is in dogs; even though all dogs are the same species, they look very different.
Now that we know a bit more about biodiversity, why is it so important? I could talk about this forever, but I will try to keep it short.
