Flooded forest

FLOODED FOREST A shoal of fish swirl past the tangled roots of a mangrove tree that stands partially submerged in the warm Caribbean Sea off the Central American country of Belize. Most mangroves grow along tropical and subtropical coastlines, where their roots are flooded with seawater twice a day. Such a wet, salty environment would be fatal to most plants, but mangrove forests thrive in it.

Mangroves include everything from small shrubs to huge trees, all adapted for living in salt water. The plants use a range of survival tactics, from filtering out salt in seawater as they drink it in through their roots to releasing salt through leaf pores. Many mangrove trees stop their roots from rotting by absorbing oxygen through spongy standing roots at low tide. Then, at high tide, the pores in their roots close, preventing the trees from getting waterlogged. Mangroves are an important tropical and subtropical habitat, acting as natural storm barriers and preventing coastal erosion. The network of roots is also a source of food for fish and other small ocean creatures, and helps shelter them from larger predators.