WEBVTT - Mangroves: Nature's Best Tree? 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.280 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.279 there's Chuck and there's Jerry over there. So let's get 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:20.239 to it. While we're talking about mangroves. Everybody, mangroves gather 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:25.720 around while we talk about mangrove. My new favorite tree. 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:28.720 It's a great tree. It's a good favorite tree to have. 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:31.600 It is, and this is one of those. I think 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.519 this is the second and probably final that was inspired 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.640 by my recent trip to Mexico because we were surrounded 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:44.839 by mangroves, literally surrounded by mangroves, and we couldn't get 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.479 enough of them. Man Like riding the bikes around and 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:52.240 looking in these mangrove forests and considering what it must 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:56.800 be like to try and navigate through them. Nearly impossible, 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:00.240 I would say, uh, because yeah, I mean you seen 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:03.560 them in person, I'm sure like just how dense these 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:05.880 things are. Uh, And you know we're gonna be talking 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.200 about different kinds, but really sort of the money mangroves 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.520 are the ones that we're going to focus on, and 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.080 they are just I was knocked out just by how 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.200 they looked. And I could tell that they were a 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:20.640 remarkable wonder of nature and evolution. And then after this stuff, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.600 Dave Rouse helped us put this together. After learning everything 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.840 that they're capable of, it's just like, what what kind 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.839 of tree is this? It's amazing. It's an amazing tree. 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.199 Like I said, it's maybe one of the best trees 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.480 to have is your favorite tree, because there are very 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:40.880 few trees that are this amazing, Chuck Man, And we're 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.720 talking mangroves, and we should say mangroves aren't necessarily like 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:48.040 a species or even a family of tree. One of 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:50.160 the other things that makes them such a cool tree 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:52.360 to have as a favorite is that there's something like 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.800 eighty or ninety species of them, and they're not genetically 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.880 related in every case. Instead, biologist classify them by their 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:06.480 ability to survive and even thrive in salty water that 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.079 uh in soil that has little to no oxygen, which 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.920 are two things that most trees can't do. And that's 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:15.440 just the tip of the iceberg. And what makes um 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.760 mangroves so amazing. Yeah, but like I said, we're talking 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:21.720 mainly about those amazing trees that sit up above the 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:26.560 water with this network of you know, look like fingers 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.800 just sort of propping up the tree, which are the roots. Um. 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:34.240 They are a woodland tree, also could be called a shrub. 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:39.240 And they grow in a pretty narrow area between um. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.760 While they're subtropical along the coastlines first of all, but 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.400 they grow between literally between um, the terrestrial and the 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:53.960 marine environment in salty brackish water. Yeah. Um. And there's 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.840 I want to say a lot of them. It's really 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:58.840 not though. I think they make up like one percent 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.680 of the forests of the old mangrove forests are. But 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.400 it's still eighty five thousand square miles, which is a 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.720 pretty decent amount of area for you know, one kind 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:11.240 of tree. It's about the size of the state of Arkansas. UM. 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.000 And the largest mangrove forest in the world is at 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.520 the mouth of the Ganges UM, near the Bay of Bengal. 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.840 It's called the Student Arbans And that's where the Bengal 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:26.000 tiger lives, which is pretty cool, agreed. Uh. They exist 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:29.760 in a hundred and eighteen countries and here in the 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:34.440 United States in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. And I thought, oh, 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.640 surely the Georgia Coast so close to Florida surely they've 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.360 got some mangroves. Don't even try. Not quite there that 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.760 I did see some people that are like, oh, so mangroves, um, 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.520 but it's not true. It looks like the closest mangroves 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:50.600 are about forty miles from the Georgia border, near the 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.320 Georgia coast line. Um. So I was really sad that 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.680 we don't have our our mangroves. But they do have 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:00.920 them in Florida and Louisiana and Texas and in Mexico. 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.640 That's right. And again you said that they grow subtropically, 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.520 and Chuck, I want to share that. It was just 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:13.480 today that I finally stopped and was like, this subtropical 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:17.200 thing is driving me crazy. Like it's it's above the 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.280 tropics on either side. It's either above or below, depending 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:23.760 on where your perspective, but it's not below. It's not 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.719 below the equator. And then I realized, if you're on 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.560 the equator from the perspective of the equator, it's below 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.400 the equator on either side, so it's sub tropical. You've 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.120 never stood on the equator. I never have, and I 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:40.760 think I should be. I've never been to Ecuador. Well 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:42.800 we should go sometime we should do a podcast live 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:47.080 live from the equator. Yeah, and see if we melt. 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:51.160 I know I will. I'm melting this week. Um. As 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.320 far as man the money mangroves that I was talking about, 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:57.880 we're talking about red, black and white, and for my money, 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.560 I love those red mangro Those are the ones that 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.240 grow along the water's edge. They have those proper roots 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:08.000 that and if you've never seen a mangrove mangrove, please 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:11.520 just look up red mangrove. Uh. And they're called proper 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.360 roots because they prop that tree up off the ground. 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.560 They are fully well, not fully exposed because they also 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:20.760 go into the water, into the soil, but they're largely 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:26.640 exposed and they are just tangled, gnarly beautiful roots that again, 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.520 I can't imagine trying to navigate through a mangrove forests. 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:33.560 You probably had to go around. Yeah, it can be 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:37.000 really really thick um both above water and below water 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:39.599 because of those roots. So those roots, um, if you 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.320 see them, that means that it's low tide, high tide, 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.240 they're usually covered up with water. But it's like you said, 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.279 they propped the tree up. And so for that reason, 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.800 because at low tide, you can see the bottom of 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.120 the tree and it's above ground. Um. They're sometimes called 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.440 walking trees, but they're pretty neat. And the red mangrove 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:00.479 is I think anyone who knows about mangroves seen a 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:03.000 mangrove probably is what they're thinking of as a red 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:07.120 mangrove because there's just those those roots are just so 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:11.680 characteristic and unusual, you know. Yeah, the black mangroves are 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:16.080 still really cool looking because they have these um protrusions 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:20.120 coming up out of the water called new metaphors and 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:22.159 just you know, put a pin in this. They but 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.159 they allow the plant to basically breathe. And we'll talk 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.479 about that later. But if you look at a picture 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:29.799 of these, it looks sort of like almost like little 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.360 just spiky roots sticking up out of the ground all 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:38.279 around the tree. Yeah, almost like still agmites. Um. And 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.200 I got that right too. By the way, Um, white 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:45.040 mangroves are. It's weird. I don't understand fully why they're 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.360 considered mangroves, aside from the fact that they must still 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:52.560 thrive in brackish or salty water and poor um, poor 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:56.520 oxygen soil. It but I guess so but they grow 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.960 inland and they have normal shallow roots systems like any 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:04.160 other terrestrial tree, but they're still considered mangroves. Yeah, and 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.320 I don't think i've mentioned the black mangroves to grow 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:10.080 a little bit further inland than the reds. Yeah. So 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.600 if you are, you know, looking at a cross section 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.560 of the ocean hitting the land and going inland, you 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:20.560 would see at the ocean or at the bay or wherever, 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:26.120 um red mangroves on the shoreline actually growing into the 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:29.320 ocean depending on where the tide is behind them. You 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:32.200 would have the black mangroves on slightly higher ground, and 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.240 then behind those on the highest ground you would have 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:37.160 the white mangroves. And that's what it would look like 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:39.160 you put it all together, well, you have is a 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:43.800 mangrove forest, also known as a mangal, a mangal, which 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.120 is uh one of the more amazing We're talking about 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.640 a lot of amazing things about mangroves and mangals, but 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.880 it's the only species of tree that can grow in 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:58.440 salt water. Um, and big time they grow and it's 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.000 not like they love the salt. We'll see in a minute. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.040 They have some great ways of getting rid of it. Um, 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.120 but they figured all that stuff out. But they can 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:10.480 grow in salinity levels of seventy five parts per thousand, 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:14.440 which is about twice as salty as ocean water. Yeah, 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.760 that's pretty impressive because I mean, where are they growing 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.480 that that's twice as salty as ocean water? You know, 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:24.280 I think that's just kind of showing off at that point. Well, 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.640 I didn't know if like that inland water like just 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:32.160 accumulates salt or something. Yeah, I would Yeah, I think 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:34.319 you might be right. Yeah, yeah, I think you fit 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:36.640 upon it. Okay, So they're not showoffs. They're just doing 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:38.240 what they've got to do there. I mean that they're 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.000 making they're making lemonade out of the lemons that that 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:43.800 they were handed by natural selection for where they grow. 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:46.520 So what about the salt? How do they get rid 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.360 of it? So you would think like they just they 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:51.760 can drink salt water and use it like you know 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:55.920 terrestrial trees use water. Not true. There's actually two techniques 0:08:56.280 --> 0:09:01.000 where they can either um keep salt from entering their roots, 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:03.439 or they can take the salt in and then get 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:05.600 rid of it in certain ways. And so that means 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.480 that there's two types, secrets and non secrets. And black 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:13.400 mangroves are secrets, I believe, right, that's right. Those are 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:15.880 the ones with a little nubby they look like sticks 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.160 almost sticking out of the water. Uh. They filter it 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:21.560 out and they secrete it on the leaves. So that 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.440 means if you see a black mangrove and you see 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.360 some you know, kind of chalky white stuff on the 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:29.840 leaf that is salt like goat, I don't know if 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:31.719 I should say go lick it because I don't know 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:35.480 if that's dangerous salt, but it's it's salty. Just trust me. 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:39.760 It tastes like salt. And d D T gosh um. 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:44.280 Red mangroves they're they're non secrets. So they actually just 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:47.120 don't allow salt to be taken up by their roots. 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:51.160 Now that's easier said than done, because their roots are 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.800 planted in the water, right, so there's water. They're taking 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:58.080 up water from the ocean, from salt water. And what 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.080 they do is they have cell wall that actually act 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:05.360 um through reverse osmosis. It lets water through, but it 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.760 doesn't let solids through, which is quite a trick. I mean, 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:11.079 that's something that humans have only recently figured out how 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:13.520 to do The mangroves have been doing it for who 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.120 knows how many, hundreds of thousands or millions of years, um. 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.720 But they do it in part because they have this hydrophobic, 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:25.280 lipophilic material called suberin that really serves them. Well, that's right. 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.880 It allows them to get rid of more than of 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.000 the salts in the water, which also means, which I 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.160 don't really think about until just now, that they can 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:37.520 They can literally tolerate I guess about ten salt content. Yeah, 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.640 I saw, but yeah, that's still a lot of salt 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:44.280 for a plant. Totally. Yeah. So they have at least 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.760 adapted in some ways to to tolerate salt more than 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.199 other plants. But for the most part, they're just really 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:54.320 good at um at keeping salt from being taken up 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.800 by their roots. I just find that fascinating. Uh And 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:00.960 I love how Dave puts these uh he he. His 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:05.720 sections are labeled either mangrove magic tricks or what was 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:09.920 the other one, mangrove superpowers. Yeah, pretty fun. They're both 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.200 apt they are. So this is magic trick number two? 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.360 Is we mentioned? You know, I mentioned earlier that they 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.840 actually breathe through these roots. Um. I think typically you 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:25.040 might like to think about plants as uh, you know, 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.520 just eating up that CEO two, which they definitely do. 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:32.400 But plants need oxygen and they need to get oxygen 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.640 from the roots and and you know with a regular 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.920 tree and a regular forest, they're getting that like through 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:43.320 the soil and these little gaps between the soil. Uh 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:47.679 in mangrove or mangals, I guess you would say they 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.760 can't do that because the title sediments come in and 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.400 it's all water log and compacted, so they don't have 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.199 those air gaps that you have in a normal forest. 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:58.560 So they kind of came up with a brilliant little 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.679 trick to get around that, right. Yeah, So the new 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:06.079 metaphors that black mangroves have those stalagmites um that are 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:10.000 coming up in in spikes around them. Those act as snorkels, 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.640 so they stick up out of the water and they're 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:17.200 covered in these little cells called lenis als, and that's 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:21.240 where oxygen exchange happens. So they actually absorb oxygen through 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:25.240 these snorkels. They get taken into the snorkel underground, into 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:29.240 the other roots of the tree um and used for 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:33.719 um aerobic respiration, which is converting food into energy. It's 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:37.760 just pretty nuts. And new metaphor actually is Greek for 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:41.760 air carrier, so it makes sense pretty on the nose. Yeah, 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:43.760 some of those new metaphors can reach up to ten 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:47.479 ft tall. Did you see that? Yeah? I didn't. Um, 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:49.520 I looked at a lot of pictures. I didn't see any. 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.120 That's all with my eyeballs. But I've looked because I 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.280 wanted to see that. Yeah, I didn't see it either. 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:56.880 It could be made up. So then you've got this, 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.680 I don't think so. Um. Then you've got the red 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:02.920 mangroves that we talked about for my money, like the 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:06.800 money mangrove, and those proper roots serve the same purpose 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.200 as the newmataphors. They you know, like I said, they 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:14.600 sit up on those long um sort of curvy stilts 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:18.120 and they stay above water like a lot of stays 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:22.040 above water even at high tide at times. And they 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.640 are also covered with those linisils and they do the 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:28.040 same thing. They allow for that oxygen exchange to take place. Yeah. 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.400 So that explains also why there's so many roots and 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.840 so many newmataphors that that spread around these trees. It's 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:39.120 like if you dug up a tree of roughly the 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:43.040 same size. It would probably have a similar sized roots structure, 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:45.319 maybe a little less, but you don't see it. It's 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.600 all underground. This is above ground, so it like looks 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:50.320 like a lot of roots, and it is a lot 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:53.760 of roots, but it's not necessarily more than a terrestrial 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:55.959 tree would have. We just don't see them. Yeah, it's 0:13:55.960 --> 0:14:00.800 like a tree that has dropped trial. It's exactly right. 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.520 It's porky pig in it. Should we uh, should we 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:07.800 take a break at mangrove magic trick number two? Yeah? 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:10.360 Number three? Yeah, we'll come back with number three right 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:36.680 after this. So, Chuck, which mangrove is your favorite kind? Well, 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.560 I think I've been clear. I know you're teasing me 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.760 because me and my red mangrove tirades. Uh. To me, 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.960 this is the best part of the episode and the 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:51.080 most amazing thing that maybe besides and we'll get to 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.280 carbon sequestration because it's amazing too. But to me, this 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:59.640 just knocked my socks off. That mangroves kind of give 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:04.240 birth two baby mangroves. I think the only reason you 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:06.760 want to qualify it with kind of is because our 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:11.360 mind rails against accepting that that's what's going on, but 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:13.960 that is what's going on for all intents and purposes. 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.840 That some mangroves are viviparous, meaning that it means um 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.520 live bearing to where they have seeds on their on 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.680 their plants that they develop. They're about acorn sized. But 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.160 then rather than the seed falling off and dispersing and 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:33.160 then eventually growing into a seedling, something much more mind 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:37.800 blowing happens with mangroves. That's right. The seedling is actually 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:44.240 produced on the tree itself, and they uh, they sort 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:48.400 of that's sort of keep qualifying it. They self plant themselves. 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:51.560 Eventually this thing is going to fall off. You've got 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.560 to look up the video on the internet. There are 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.680 many out there where it shows these you know, acorn 0:15:57.760 --> 0:15:59.840 like things. They grow down to these sort of long 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.200 arrow like, you know, green arrows that are pointing down 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.480 and eventually they just go and they snap off and 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.560 they go straight down and they either stick into the 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.520 ground at low tide or I saw them in two 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.520 ft of ocean water just going straight through and sticking 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:19.680 into the sand and they plant themselves. They do, they 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.520 plant themselves in that sandy bottom and then they sprout 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.320 roots really fast. I saw that they can start growing 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:29.160 roots within hours um, which means that also if they 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.960 don't fall straight down, if they fall and they land 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.880 on their side, they can actually stand themselves up by 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:39.560 growing roots on the ground facing side and then grow 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:42.640 roots on the other side as well, which is pretty amazing. 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.640 What's even more amazing is that if they fall, they 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:47.920 happen to fall it like high tide, and it's pretty deep, 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.680 and they never touched the bottom in any way. They'll 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.160 float along, they'll go out to sea and as they're 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.960 out to see they're a little tree growing like growing leaves, 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:02.160 getting water um from the ocean and doing photosynthesis in 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:04.439 the sunlight. And they can float around for up to 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:08.240 a year before they make land and stand themselves up 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:13.359 and grow roots wherever they land. It's just unbelievable because 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:18.320 this was an evolutionary adaptation. Uh, because my first thought was, well, 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.360 why don't why doesn't the acorn like seed just fall 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:24.119 into the water and float around. But it must have 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.600 just not been able to survive and got water logged 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.120 and died and and adapted to grow on the tree 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.400 itself and get that little seedling started. Yeah, because thing 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:37.920 about this chuck. A seedling is a small viable tree 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.399 all it has everything it needs to grow, So it's 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:46.080 an individual organism. And when the um, the the mangrove 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:50.240 is growing the seedling on its tree, on itself, that's 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.000 just station. Because when it drops off, it's like of 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.600 giraffe dropping a baby out like three or four ft 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:59.399 above above the ground. It's the same thing. It's just station. 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:03.040 It's a lot. I've birth of a plant. It's nuts, man, 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.200 I love it in the baby draft sticks its nose 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:09.040 into the ground and it's it grows from there for 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:11.520 months and months, plant some roots out of its head 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.680 and they go. Uh. Let's talk about the mangals a 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:17.840 little bit. We've talked about um the fact that these 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:22.560 forests are very dense, but it is a dense ecosystem 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:24.359 that is dense and more ways than one. It's not 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:26.960 just all these gnarly roots that you see everywhere. There 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:31.480 are all kinds of fish habitats and wildlife habitats that 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:34.680 exist in these mangals. Yeah. One of the reason why 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:38.320 these like um root systems and why the above water 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.880 um parts of the trees are all just so thick, 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.000 like you're saying it's so hard to get through is 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.200 because of the way that they drop seedlings right off 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:51.440 of their tree right around them. So these mangals develop 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:55.399 into these really thick deposits of trees and shrubs above 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.880 water and below water because they grow so closely together, 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.520 and as they grow, a migrate one way or another, 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.080 or they just spread out one way or another, sometimes 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.320 towards the ocean, sometimes behind them, sometimes to either side 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:09.640 of the shore. But that's how they grow, and that's 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.520 why they're so dense too, uh, and that provides a 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.760 lot of protection for these habitats. Uh. They're all manner 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:18.840 of fish. If you're in Florida, you're gonna see gray 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.359 snapper in there, or you probably won't see them um snook, 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:26.920 tarpin um. This is pretty remarkable that goliath grouper, which 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:31.280 is actually endangered, spends their first six years in that 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.240 mangal before it goes to open water. Yeah, and it's 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:36.400 not just like a few kinds of fish like things 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:42.840 like octopi, sharks, shrimp, mollusks, just tons of different kinds 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:46.280 of fish, like this is their nursery ground because these roots, 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:49.840 these tangle of roots provide a place for juveniles to 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:53.200 like hide out of reach of predators and get bigger 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:55.679 and bigger, because it's also a very nourishing place for 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:59.600 them to eat too. So they're they're really really important 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:03.600 as nurseries for all kinds of sea life. Yeah. And 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.440 if you're talking about eating seafood, the commercial fishing industry, 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.440 and this just sort of shows you how important these 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:15.240 mangals are. Uh, one square mile loss of mangroves forest 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:19.240 would lose about two hundred and seventy five thousand pounds 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:23.080 of fish every year. Uh. And then that's not even 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:27.159 to speak of all the indigenous communities that um, that 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:31.840 are you know, rely on these fish to provide their sustenance. Right. 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:34.320 And so that's just the below water part of the mangal. 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:36.879 The above water part of the mangal basically does the 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:44.600 same thing. But for terrestrial and arboreal animals like monkeys, insects, reptiles, birds, 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.080 they make their home and their nurseries in those um 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:52.480 the mangals, to the branches, the leaves, the trunks, um, 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:55.360 those are really just as important for above ground animals 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.240 as they are for below water animals. Yeah. And you 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:03.000 mentioned that Bengal tiger. Uh. This was also in this 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:08.639 some Darbin's right. Yes, and this is the largest single 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:11.639 population of Bengal tigers on planet Earth, and it's only 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:14.199 about a hundred of them, but they live in these uh, 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:19.760 in these mangals. Yes. And also attention Kristen bell Uh, 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:24.120 if you are ambivalent about mangrove forests, prepared to care 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:29.640 because in Panama, the pigmy three toad sloth, critically endangered 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:33.639 by the way, only makes its home in mangrove forests. Sound. 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:37.720 That's right, So you gotta care now. I still watched 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:39.560 that video of her in that sloth about once every 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:43.040 two years. Yes, it's just one of the great human 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:46.040 reactions to something. Yeah, and I remember how hardened we 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:48.359 were when we realized that she didn't touch it, even 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:50.920 though you clearly wanted to more than she's ever wanted 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.119 to do anything or life. But she doesn't. She didn't 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:56.480 do it, you know, for her, it's pretty great. I 0:21:56.480 --> 0:21:59.640 think we can move on to some superpowers, right, Yeah, 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:04.040 man of superpower number one, which is coastline protection, which 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:06.960 is pretty important if you live along the coast. Yeah, 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:10.840 this is a big one, um one great benefit of 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:15.280 all those above ground gnarly mess of roots that are 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:18.480 everywhere is and it just makes perfect common sense when 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:22.280 you look at them. Is they make great wave breaks? Um, 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:25.760 any kind of wave, even like a tsunamic. Is that 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:29.720 a word? It is? Now? I think it's a great word, right. 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:33.399 Tsunami's wave is going to be cut down big time 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:36.080 when it hits this stuff. It's just gonna you know, 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:38.040 just cut through and disperse it in in a really 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:42.160 profound way. Yeah, because there's so many different like roots 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:45.119 and individual things to bump into on the way to 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:48.280 the shore that it's going to reduce its energy um, 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:52.160 which means that it reduces one of the pernicious effects 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.080 that waves have on shore, which is erosion. And not 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:58.040 only does it reduce erosion because the waves don't have 0:22:58.119 --> 0:23:00.600 enough energy to take stuff back out to see it 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:04.399 actually has them deposit the sediments that they're bringing to 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:08.160 the shore in the mangrove swamps. And if you compare, 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:10.879 if you combine that, I should say, with the really 0:23:11.280 --> 0:23:15.840 um low oxygen um uh environments that make up the 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:20.480 mucky bottom in a mangrove mangal um, you, if I 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:22.240 guess you can kind of flash back to our coal 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:24.320 The mystery of coal episode where we talked a lot 0:23:24.359 --> 0:23:28.160 about how swamps work like that. So the mangrove swamps 0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:30.080 are very much like that as well. But then in 0:23:30.119 --> 0:23:33.520