Mangrove Facts:

1. •Areas which had good healthy populations of mangroves had no causalities as the mangroves slowed down the tsunami waves and saved the land and people.
   

2. •This ecosystem traps and cycles various organic materials, chemical elements, and important nutrients. Mangrove roots act not only as physical traps but provide attachment surfaces for various marine organisms. Many of these attached organisms filter water through their bodies and, in turn, trap and cycle nutrients.
   

3. •Total area under mangrove vegetation in India is 4827 sq.km. as per the latest estimate of the Forest Survey of India (1999). Out of this, 966 sq.km. area of mangrove vegetation occur in Andaman & Nicobar Islands which means that one fifth of the country’s total mangroves occur in these islands
   

4. •About 60 species of mangrove occur through out the world. Asia is the richest region of mangrove species diversity with 44 species reported to occur, important mangrove species found in these islands include- Rhizophora mucronata, R. apiculata, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, B. parviflora, Avicennia officinalis, A. marina, Ceriops tagal, Heritiera littoralis, Sonneratia caseolaris, S. alba, Exoecaria agallocha, Xylocarpus granatum, Aegiceras corniculatum, Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea, Nypa fruticans etc