WEBVTT - Selects: Mangroves: Nature's Best Tree? 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:02.840 Hi, everyone. I hope you're enjoying your Saturday morning and 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:05.240 your weekend so far, and I hope this episode makes 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:06.920 it a little bit better because it's about one of 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:10.479 my favorite trees, the mangrove. I discovered mangroves in person 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.399 when I went to Coastal Mexico for the first time, 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:15.200 and I'll tell you what, I fell in love with 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:20.720 these things. They are amazing. Mangroves colon Nature's best tree, 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:21.439 I think. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:34.680 So welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.440 Hey, welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.120 and there's Jerry over there. So let's get to it. 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:46.400 While we're talking about mangroves. Everybody mangroves gather around while 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:48.040 we talk about mangrove. 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:51.440 My new favorite tree. 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.200 It's a great tree. It's a good favorite tree to. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:56.880 Have, it is, and this is one of those. I 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.480 think this is the second and probably final that was 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:03.360 inspired by my recent trip to Mexico because we were 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:10.160 surrounded by mangroves, literally surrounded by mangroves, and we couldn't 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:12.880 get enough of them, and like riding the bikes round 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:17.399 and looking in these mangrove forests and considering what it 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:22.320 must be like to try and navigate through them, nearly impossible, 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.880 I would say, because yeah, I mean you've seen them 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.600 in person. I'm sure like just how dense these things are. 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:32.640 And you know we're gonna be talking about different kinds, 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.399 but really sort of the money mangroves sure are the 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:37.360 ones that we're going to focus on, and they are 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.040 just I was knocked out just by how they looked, 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.760 and I could tell that they were a remarkable wonder 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:46.880 of nature and evolution. And then after this stuff Dave 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.240 Rus helped us put this together, after learning everything that 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:54.760 they're capable of, it's just like, what kind of tree 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:55.800 is this? It's amazing. 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:58.920 It's an amazing tree. Like I said, it's maybe one 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:00.960 of the best trees to have as your favorite tree, 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.000 because there are very few trees that are this amazing, 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:08.040 Chuck Man, and we're talking mangroves, and we should say 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:12.280 mangroves aren't necessarily like a species or even a family 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.760 of tree. One of the other things that makes them 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.080 such a cool tree to have as a favorite is 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.600 that there's something like eighty or ninety species of them, 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:24.240 and they're not genetically related in every case. Instead, biologists 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:28.160 classify them by their ability to survive and even thrive 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:34.360 in salty water, that in soil that has little to 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.640 no oxygen, which are two things that most trees can't do. 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:40.040 And that's just the tip of the iceberg in what 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.160 makes mangroves so amazing. 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:45.240 Yeah, but like I said, we're talking mainly about those 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:48.680 amazing trees that sit up above the water with this 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:52.520 network of you know, look like fingers just sort of 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:55.799 propping up the tree, which are the roots. They are 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.240 a woodland tree, also could be called a shrub, and 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:06.600 they grow in a pretty narrow area between well they're 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.679 subtropical along the coastlines first of all, but they grow 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:14.600 between literally between the terrestrial and the marine environment in 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:16.560 salty brackish water. 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:21.680 Yeah, and there's I want to say a lot of them. 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:23.760 It's really not though. I think they make up like 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.760 one percent of the forests of the world mangrove forests are. 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:29.799 But it's still eighty five thousand square miles, which is 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:32.919 a pretty decent amount of area for you know, one 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.080 kind of tree. It's about the size of the state 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.840 of Arkansas, and the largest mangrove forest in the world 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.400 is at the mouth of the Ganges near the Bay 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.960 of Bengal. It's called the Sundarbans and that's where the 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:48.120 Bengal tiger lives, which is pretty cool. 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:54.680 Agreed. They exist in one hundred and eighteen countries and 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:58.440 here in the United States, in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.600 And I thought, oh, surely the Georgia coast so close 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.160 to Florida, surely they've got some mangroves. 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:06.200 Don't even try. 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.240 Not quite that. I did see some people that were like, oh, 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.560 it's so mangroves, but it's not true. It looks like 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:15.840 the closest mangroves are about forty miles from the Georgia border, 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.760 near the Georgia coast line. So it was really sad 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.200 that we don't have our mangroves. But they do have 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:27.960 them in Florida and Louisiana and Texas, in Mexico, that's right. 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.719 And again you said that they grow subtropically, and Chuck, 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.800 I want to share that it was just today that 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:39.240 I finally stopped and was like, this subtropical thing is 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:44.279 driving me crazy, Like it's above the tropics on either side. 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.839 It's either above or below, depending on where your perspective, 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.839 but it's not below. It's not below the equator. And 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.159 then I realized, if you're on the equator from the 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.640 perspective of the equator, it's below the equator on either side, 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:58.360 so it's sub tropical. 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:00.000 You've never stood on the equator. 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.839 I never have, and I think I can be a blame. 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:04.880 I've never been to Ecuador. 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:07.920 Well, we should go sometime. We should do a podcast 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.800 live live from the equator. 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:12.640 Yeah, and see if we melt. 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.840 I know I will. I'm melting this week. As far 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:18.800 as man the money mangroves that I was talking about, 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:23.440 we're talking about red, black and white, and for my money, 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.120 I love those red mangroves. Those are the ones that 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.280 grow along the water's edge. They have those proper roots 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.480 that and if you've never seen a ma mangrove, please 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:37.280 just look up red mangrove. And they're called prop roots 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.000 because they prop that tree up off the ground. They 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.159 are fully well, not fully exposed because they also go 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.239 into the water, into the soil, but they are largely 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:52.120 exposed and they are just tangled, gnarly beautiful roots that again, 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.920 I can't imagine trying to navigate through a mangrove forest. 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:57.279 You probably had to go around. 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.600 Yeah, it can be really really thick, both above water 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:04.160 and below water because of those roots. So those roots, 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.159 if you see them, that means that it's low tide. 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.080 At high tide, they're usually covered up with water. But 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.560 it's like you said, they prop the tree up, and 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.360 so for that reason, because at low tide you can 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:17.920 see the bottom of the tree and it's above ground. 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:22.159 They're sometimes called walking trees, but they're pretty neat. And 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.000 the red mangrove is I think anyone who knows about 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.880 mangroves or seen a mangrove probably is what they're thinking 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.200 of as a red mangrove because they're just those those 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.120 roots are just so characteristic and unusual, you know. 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.000 Yeah, the black mangroves are still really cool looking because 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.960 they have these protrusions coming up out of the water 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:47.080 called neumataphores and just you know, put a pin in 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.120 this they but they allow the plant to basically breathe. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.480 And we'll talk about that later. But if you look 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:54.040 at a picture of these, it looks sort of like 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.400 almost like little just spiky roots sticking up out of 0:06:57.400 --> 0:06:58.640 the ground all around the tree. 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:04.680 Yeah, almost like stalagmites. Yeah, and I got that right too, 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:08.760 by the way, right, white mangroves are. It's weird. I 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:12.520 don't understand fully why they're considered mangroves aside from the 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.760 fact that they must still thrive and brackish or salty 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:20.960 water and poor poor oxygen soil, that's it. But I 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.640 guess so. But they grow inland and they have normal 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:27.520 shallow root systems like any other terrestrial tree, but they're 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:28.960 still considered mangroves. 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:31.440 Yeah, and I don't think I've mentioned the black mangroves 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.400 to grow a little bit further inland than the reds. 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:37.320 Yeah. So if you are, you know, looking at a 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:41.520 cross section of the ocean hitting the land and going inland, 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.440 you would see at the ocean or at the bay 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:50.920 or wherever, red mangroves on the shoreline actually growing into 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.680 the ocean, depending on where the tide is behind them. 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:57.400 You would have the black mangroves on slightly higher ground, 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.560 and then behind those on the highest ground you would 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:02.640 have the white mangroves. And that's what it would look like. 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:04.680 You put it all together, well, you have as a 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.920 mangrove forest also known as a mangal. 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:12.000 A mangal, which is one of the more amazing We're 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:13.760 gonna be talking about a lot of amazing things about 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:17.920 mangroves and mangoals. But it's the only species of tree 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:23.400 that can grow in salt water, and big time they grow. 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:25.160 And it's not like they love the salt. We'll see 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:27.239 in a minute. They have some great ways of getting 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.040 rid of it, but they figured all that stuff out. 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:35.120 But they can grow in salinity levels of seventy five 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.840 parts per thousand, which is about twice as salty as 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:38.440 ocean water. 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:42.880 Yeah, that's pretty impressive because I mean, where are they 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.040 growing that's twice as salty as ocean water? You know, 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:48.520 I think that's just kind of showing off at that point. 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.840 Well, I didn't know if like that inland water, like 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:54.720 just accumulate salt or something. 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.080 Yeah, I would, Yeah, I think you might be right. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:01.000 I think you've hit upon it. Okay, So they're not 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:02.920 show offs. They're just doing what they've got to do. 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.080 I mean that they're making lemonade out of the lemons 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.360 that they were handed by natural selection for where they grow. 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.040 So what about the salt. How do they get rid 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:12.280 of it? 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:15.440 So you would think like they just they can drink 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.280 salt water and use it like you know terrestrial trees 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:22.400 use water. Not true. There's actually two techniques where they 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:27.319 can either keep salt from entering their roots or they 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.280 can take the salt in and then get rid of 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:31.440 it in certain ways. And so that means that there's 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:36.440 two types secreters and non secrets. And black mangroves are secrets, 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:37.480 I believe, right. 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.319 That's right. Those are the ones with a little nubby 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:42.920 they look like sticks almost sticking out of the water. 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.760 They filter it out and they secrete it on the leaves. 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.480 So that means if you see a black mangrove and 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.520 you see some you know, kind of chalky white stuff 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.959 on the leaf that is salt, like goat, well, I 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:56.480 don't know if I should say go lick it, because 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:00.360 I don't know if that's dangerous salt, but it's. 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:04.560 Just trust me, it tastes like salt and DDT gosh. 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:10.160 Red mangroves they're non secrets. So they actually just don't 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.360 allow salt to be taken up by their roots. Now 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:17.200 that's easier said than done, because their roots are planted 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.440 in the water, right, so there's water. They're taking up 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:23.800 water from the ocean, from salt water. And what they 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.680 do is they have cell walls that actually act through 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:31.360 reverse osmosis. It lets water through, but it doesn't let 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.480 solids through, which is quite a trick. I mean, that's 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.840 something that humans have only recently figured out how to do. 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.760 Mangroves have been doing it for who knows how many 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.040 hundreds of thousands or millions of years. But they do 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:47.080 it in part because they have this hydrophobic, lipophilic material 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:49.439 called suberin that really serves them. 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:52.080 Well, that's right. It allows them to get rid of 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.360 more than ninety percent of the salts in the water, 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:57.480 which also means which I better really think about until 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.760 just now, that they can literally toller I guess about 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:02.360 ten percent salt content. 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.040 Yeah, I saw ninety to ninety five percent. But yeah, 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.800 that's still a lot of salt for a plant, totally. Yeah. 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.280 So they have at least adapted in some ways to 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.839 tolerate salt more than other plants. But for the most part, 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:19.280 they're just really good at at keeping salt from being 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.920 taken up by their roots. I just find that fascinating. 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:27.040 And I love how Dave puts these. His sections are 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:31.640 labeled either mangrove Magic Tricks or what was the other one, 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.760 mangrove Superpowers. Yeah, and that's pretty fun. 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:36.520 They're both apt they are. 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:40.600 So this is magic trick number two. Is we mentioned? 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.360 You know, I mentioned earlier that they actually breathe through 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:47.640 these roots. I think typically you might like to think 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:52.440 about plants as you know, just eating up that CO two, 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.360 which they definitely do. But plants need oxygen and they 0:11:56.400 --> 0:12:00.360 need to get oxygen from the roots, and you know, 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.600 with a regular tree and a regular forest, they're getting 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:07.000 that like through the soil and these little gaps between 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:12.120 the soil in mangrove or mangols. I guess you would 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:15.640 say they can't do that because the tidal sediments come 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.600 in and it's all water log and compacted, so they 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:20.800 don't have those air gaps that you have in a 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.480 normal forest. So they kind of came up with a 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:25.160 brilliant little trick to get around that, right. 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:30.559 Yeah. So the pneumataphors that black mangroves have, those stalagmites 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.640 that are coming up in spikes around them, those act 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.080 as snorkels. So they stick up out of the water 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:42.400 and they're covered in these little cells called lenisoles, and 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:46.400 that's where oxygen exchange happens, so they actually absorb oxygen 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.439 through these snorkels. They get taken into the snorkel underground, 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.680 into the other roots of the tree and used for 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.000 aerobic respiration, which is converting food into energy. 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:04.079 Just pretty and nu metaphor actually is Greek for air carrier, 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:06.400 so makes sense. Pretty on the nose. 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.040 Yeah, some of those new metaphors can reach up to 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:10.480 ten feet tall. Did you see that? 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.080 Yeah? I didn't. I looked at a lot of pictures. 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.440 I didn't see any. That's all with my eyeballs, but 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:18.280 I looked because I wanted to see that. 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:20.800 Yeah, I didn't see it either, could be made up. 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.800 So then you've got this, I don't think. So. Then 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.520 you've got these red mangroves that we talked about for 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.920 my money, like the money mangrove, and those proper roots 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:35.160 serve the same purpose as the new metaphors. They you know, 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:37.640 like I said, they sit up on those long, sort 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:42.840 of curvy stilts and they stay above water, like a 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.040 lot of it stays above water even at high tide 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.360 at times, and they are also covered with those linisols 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:51.160 and they do the same thing. They allow for that 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:52.760 oxygen exchange to take place. 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.840 Yeah, so that explains also why there's so many roots 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.360 and so many noumataphors that spread around these trees. It's 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.600 like if you dug up a tree of roughly the 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:08.559 same size, it would probably have a similar sized root structure, 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:10.800 maybe a little less, but you don't see it. It's 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:14.120 all underground. This is above ground, so it like looks 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:15.839 like a lot of roots, and it is a lot 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:19.239 of roots, but it's not necessarily more than a terrestrial 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:20.960 tree would have. We just don't see them. 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:23.280 Yeah, it's like a tree that is dropped trow. 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.600 That's exactly right. It's porky pig in it. 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:31.640 Should we should we take a break at mangrove Magic 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:32.320 trick number two? 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:33.320 Yeah? 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:33.960 To number three? 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.240 Pick Yeah, we'll come back with number three right after this. 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:40.360 Shit. 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.000 So, Chuck, which mangrove is your favorite kind? 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.960 Well, I think I've been clear. I know you're teasing 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:10.240 me because me and my red mangrove tirades. To me, 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:13.480 this is the best part of the episode and the 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.640 most amazing thing that maybe besides, and we'll get to 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.840 carbon sequestration because it's amazing too. But to me, this 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:25.160 just knocked my socks off that mangroves kind of give 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.080 birth to baby mangroves. 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:30.880 I think the only reason you want to qualify it 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.240 with kind of is because our mind rails against accepting 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.920 that that's what's going on. But that is what's going 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:42.520 on for all intents and purposes. That some mangroves are viviparous, 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:46.760 meaning that it means live bearing to where they have 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:51.760 seeds on their plants that they develop. They're about acorn sized. 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.560 But then rather than the seed falling off and dispersing 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:58.400 and then eventually growing into a seedling, something much more 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:00.359 mind blowing happens with mangoes. 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:06.000 That's right. The seedling is actually produced on the tree itself, 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:11.200 and they they sort of that sort of I keep 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:15.920 qualifying it, They self plant themselves. Eventually this thing is 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:17.760 going to fall off. You've got to look up the 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.000 video on the internet. There are many out there where 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:24.080 it shows these you know, acorn like things, they grow 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:27.000 down to these sort of long arrow like, you know, 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.120 green arrows that are pointing down and eventually they just 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.800 go whoop, and they snap off and they go straight 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.800 down and they either stick into the ground at low 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.080 tide or I saw them in two feet of ocean water, 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:42.840 just going straight through and sticking into the sand and 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:44.040 they plant themselves. 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.280 They do. They plant themselves in that sandy bottom, and 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:50.080 then they sprout roots really fast. I saw that they 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:54.240 can start growing roots within hours, which means that also 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.920 if they don't fall straight down, if they fall and 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.680 they land on their side, they can actually stay themselves 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:04.600 up by growing roots on the ground facing side and 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.200 then grow roots on the other side as well, which 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.080 is pretty amazing. What's even more amazing is that if 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.640 they fall, they happen to fall it like high tide, 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:14.680 and it's pretty deep, and they never touch the bottom 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.960 in any way. They'll float along, they'll go out to 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:21.080 sea and as they're out to see they're a little 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:26.000 tree growing like growing leaves, getting water from the ocean 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.160 and doing photosynthesis in the sunlight. And they can float 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.159 around for up to a year before they make land 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.560 and stand themselves up and grow roots wherever they land. 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:42.760 It's just unbelievable because this was an evolutionary adaptation. Because 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:45.480 my first thought was, well, why doesn't the acorn like 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.439 seed just fall into the water and float around. But 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.200 it must have just not been able to survive and 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:56.280 got water logged and died and adapted to grow on 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.680 the tree itself and get that little seedling started. 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.240 Yeah, because think about this, chuck. A seedling is a small, 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.719 viable tree. It has everything it needs to grow. So 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:12.240 it's an individual organism. And when the mangrove is growing 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:16.960 the seedling on its tree, on itself, that's gestation. Because 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:19.399 when it drops off, it's like a girafte dropping a 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:22.960 baby out like three or four feet above above the ground. 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:26.240 It's the same thing. It's gestation. It's a live birth 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.080 of a plant. It's nuts, man, I love it. 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.359 And the baby draft sticks its nose into the ground. 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:34.600 It grows from there for. 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.040 Months and months, plant some roots out of its head, 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:37.600 and there you go. 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:41.160 Let's talk about the mangoals a little bit. We've talked 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:44.520 about the fact that these forests are very dense, but 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:48.920 it is a dense ecosystem that is dense in more 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:51.040 ways than one. It's not just all these gnarly roots 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.399 that you see everywhere. There are all kinds of fish 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:58.480 habitats and wildlife habitats that exist in these mangoals. 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.960 Yeah. One of the reason why these root systems and 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:06.040 why the above water parts of the trees are all 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:08.600 just so thick, like you were saying it's so hard 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:10.880 to get through, is because of the way that they 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:15.280 drop seedlings right off of their tree right around them. 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:19.000 So these mangols develop into these really thick deposits of 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:22.840 trees and shrubs above water and below water because they 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:26.080 grow so closely together, and as they grow, they migrate 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.560 one way or another, or they just spread out one 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.080 way or another, sometimes towards the ocean, sometimes behind them, 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.120 sometimes to either side of the shore. But that's how 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.480 they grow, and that's why they're so dense too, and. 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.560 That provides a lot of protection for these habitats. They 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:43.520 are all manner of fish. If you're in Florida, you're 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:46.120 gonna see gray snapper in there, or you probably won't 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:51.479 see them snook tarpin. This is pretty remarkable that goliath grouper, 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:56.600 which is actually endangered, spends their first six years in 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:58.520 that mangol before it goes to open water. 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:01.399 Yeah, and it's not like a few kinds of fish, 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:07.679 like things like octopi sharks, shrimp, molluscs, just tons of 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.800 different kinds of fish, Like this is their nursery ground 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.359 because these roots, these tangle of roots, provide a place 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:18.159 for juveniles to hide out of reach of predators and 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.760 get bigger and bigger because it's also a very nourishing 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:24.480 place for them to eat too. So they're really really 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:28.560 important as nurseries for all kinds of sea life. 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:32.040 Yeah, and if you're talking about eating seafood, the commercial 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:35.240 fishing industry, and this just sort of shows you how 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:40.080 important these mangoals are. A one square mile loss of mangroves, 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.240 for us would lose about two hundred and seventy five 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:48.280 thousand pounds of fish every year. And then that's not 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:54.359 even to speak of all the indigenous communities that rely 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:56.320 on these fish to provide their sustenance. 0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:59.320 Right, And so that's just the below water part of 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.000 the mangol. The above water part of the mangol basically 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:05.919 does the same thing. But for terrestrial and arboreal animals 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:11.359 like monkeys, insects, reptiles, birds, they make their home and 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:16.440 their nurseries in those the mangols too. The branches, the leaves, 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:20.160 the trunks, those are really just as important for above 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:23.040 ground animals as they are for below water animals. 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:27.200 Yeah. And you mentioned that Bengal tiger. This was also 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:33.240 in the sum darbins, right. Yes, And this is the 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:36.840 largest single population of Bengal tigers on planet Earth, and 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:39.000 it's only about one hundred of them, but they live 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:40.680 in these mangols. 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:46.800 Yes. And also attention, Kristen Bell, if you are ambivalent 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:52.199 about mangrove forests, prepared to care because in Panama, the 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:56.800 pigmy three toadsloth, critically endangered by the way, only makes 0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:00.840 its home in mangrove forests. Sound there, right, So you 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:01.720 got to care now. 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:04.320 I still watch that video of her in that sloth 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:07.520 about once every two years. Yes, It's just one of 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:09.639 the great human reactions to something. 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:12.080 Yeah. And I remember how hardened we were when we 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:14.919 realized that she didn't touch it, even though you clearly 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:16.960 wanted to more than she's ever wanted to do anything 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:18.879 in her life. But she doesn't. She didn't do it, 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:20.199 you know, so good for her. 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:22.960 It's pretty great. I think we can move on to 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:24.240 some superpowers, right. 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:29.520 Yeah, mangrove superpower number one, which is coastline protection, which 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:31.720