Mangroves from the Water is happy to share the news about the Etihad Mangroves Forest initiative.
Please follow the link to see how you can get involved – there are so many ways to help!
Tag: mangrove trees
UAE vows to plant 100 million mangroves by 2030 at COP26
Fantastic news for the Mangroves from the Water team!
The UAE has announced an increase to their target, to plant 100 million mangroves trees by 2030 at COP26, according to the Emirates News Agency:
Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, presented the new target at the High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on Adaptation Action that took place on the Adaptation, Loss and Damage Day at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.
Please see the article and view the video here.
The beautiful paintings of Helen Martin
The beautiful paintings of Helen Martin conveys a touching fondness for her husband by translating his deep-rooted connection to the mangroves, Her skill as a painter is evident in the atmospheric depictions of mangrove trees as seen in the images below, manifesting the vibrancy and liveliness through brush strokes and play of light.
Helen’s artist statement:
For the Mangroves from the Water Exhibition, Helen is collaborating with her husband Peter Martin, who has a deep affinity with mangroves having grown up playing and exploring them on the shore in front of his family home at Peek’s Point, East Gosford in New South Wales – on Darkinjung Country.
Her works for the exhibition draw on recent images of a small stand of white mangroves planted in the early 1960s by the five Martin boys at shoreline of Broken Bay. These young boys were motivated to plant mangrove seedlings they had found nearby in response to the degradation and destruction of the local mangroves, their playground, caused by unabashed urban development. The mangroves were seeded in the rocky foreshore among the clusters of native oysters, and over the past 50 years thrived, creating a new habitat.
“The girl who fell in love with the mangroves” : sneak preview!
We are so proud of the variety of multi-media on offer at the next Mangroves from the Water exhibition.
Here is a preview to entice you to visit the Gordon Gallery.
Geraldine Chansard collaborated with director Pauline Dupin to create this heartwarming tale in a short video.
You can follow the news thread on Geraldine’s crowdfunding page to see the development of this project, as well as contribute to realize her dream:
https://fr.ulule.com/la_jeune_fille_tombee_amoureuse_des_mangroves/news/
Marawed Magazine focuses on the mangroves as part of Emirati Heritage
We are grateful to be part of this important magazine called Marawed and fortunate to be working with Dr. Abdulaziz Al Musallam, Chairman of the Sharjah Institute of Heritage and Editor-in-Chief.
Plants and trees – nature in general- is extremely important to the Emirati culture and prominent in Islamic traditions and teachings from the Holy Qu’ran.
Marawed focuses on the mangroves as part of the the UAE’s natural landscapes and elevate its importance to that of the better-known Date Palms and Ghaf trees spread across the lands.
Please do read the magazine (download the link above) for the interesting information on the local mangroves- from its medicinal uses since 4th Century BC, the botanical and biological science behind it, and the valuable contribution these mangrove trees make to the environment.
The Sharjah Institute of Heritage is a great supporter of Mangroves from the Water, and we thank them for their continued assistance and participation.
Passion for the Mangroves – Kerrie Taylor
We are so happy to have Kerrie Taylor as the latest artist to join our team at Mangroves from the Water.
Kerrie shared these work- in- progress photos while doing research in the mangroves of the Darwin beaches.
She travels there every year from Victoria for further research on pneumatophores and mangroves.
What is a pneumatophore you might ask?:
noun, plural: pneumatophores. (botany) A specialized aerial root, such as in certain mangrove species, that stick up out of the soil and covered with many lenticels for gaseous exchange. (zoology) The air sac or float in certain siphonophores. Supplement. In botany, pneumatophores are a type of aerial root.
I must admit myself, these aerial roots astounded me at my first sight of them in the Umm Al Quwain mangroves (UAE). It is hard not to get obsessed over them.
Introducing our YouTube channel!
Mangroves from the Water is now on YouTube!
Please follow our channel, and see some beautiful and informative videos of the United Arab Emirates and Australian mangroves.
Artist meet-up
We are lucky to have our ‘office’ in the middle of Mother Nature!
Artist meet-ups are so much fun…
The mangrove animal life
Text and images sourced from the Australian Marine Environment Protection Association
Mangroves are the supermarkets of the sea. The fertile mud is the original source of most of the mangrove’s food. The fertility of the mud comes from the falling mangrove leaves.
Some animals live in the mangrove canopy and never step on the water or mud. This includes small birds, bats and most of the insects and spiders. For all the other mangroves animals they will be adapted for high tide feeding or low tide feeding. At high tide the fish move in and many of the small animals will be hiding from the fish. At low tide nearly all the fish move out and many animals come out of the mud to feed, but they need to watch out for birds.
Crabs and shrimp
At low tide hundreds of mud borrows cover the exposed mud. If you wait quietly you will see small crabs scavenging for small pieces of dead plants and animals. There are dozens of species of crabs of all shapes and sizes. Fiddler crabs feed near their burrow. The male fiddler crab uses his large colourful claw to attract females. Mud shrimps also build burrows. Their burrows have a chimney. Prawns are strong swimmers. Young prawns will feed around mangroves. They feed at high tide. The millions of crabs and shrimps living in mangroves are an important source of food for fish and birds.
Shellfish
Mud whelks are a type of snail with a long thick spiral shells. They eat plants and dead material that have fallen onto the mud. They can be seen crawling along the mud and will climb up the trunks of mangroves. Whelks were eaten by Aboriginals and the empty shells can be used by hermit crabs. Many other types of snail live in mangroves.
Some shellfish have two shells hinged on one side. The shells protect the soft body inside. These are called bivalves. These bivalve shellfish pump water into the shells so their gills can get oxygen and the filters inside gather food from the water. They hide below the mud or attach themselves to solid objects. . Birds with long beaks probe the mud to find them. When they die their empty shells are washed up
Mudskipper
Mudskippers are fish that use their fins to walk and skip on the mud at low tide. They breathe through their skin and the surface of their mouth when out of the water but they must remain damp. They store water in their large gill chambers on their neck. They will fight other mudskippers over their territory. When the tide comes in, they find protection from other fish by living in a burrow in the soft mud. Their burrow has a chimney built on top and they create an air pocket in the chamber below. The eyes on the top of their head allow them to swim with their eyes above the surface so they see predators from all directions.
Insects and spiders
The easiest to find insects in mangroves are the butterflies visiting the flowers for their nectar. While drinking the nectar, they are covered in pollen and help to transport the pollen to other flowers. At certain times of the year, mosquitoes and biting midges can make a visit to some mangroves unpleasant. Some species of ants, termites, wasps, moths, bugs and flies also make the mangroves their home.
Where there are insects, there are hungry spiders waiting to feed on them. Orb weavers spin their large webs between branches. Huntsman spiders hide under bark when they are not hunting. Leaf curing spiders make their home by using their silk to roll up a leaf where they can hide inside.
Birds
Birds that hunt for insects and spiders or find food in the flowers can be active all day long. Some of the birds like the mangrove whistler prefer living in mangroves, but many common birds like robins and honeyeaters will also feed in mangroves.
When the tide is out many wading and other wetland birds have a feast on crabs, marine worms, shellfish and any fish that have been left stranded. Herons and egrets are grabbing large items of food from shallow water or the muddy surface. Ibis and smaller wading birds can also probe the mud for the life hiding below. Many of the wading birds migrate to the northern hemisphere to breed.
Crocodiles
Saltwater crocodiles are often found at both low and high tides in mangrove swamps. They will find an open dry area where they can warm themselves in the sun. They will effortlessly swim around the mangrove hunting at high tide. At low tide they can only crawl leaving behind their large trail. They will feed on fish and large crabs. They will quickly clean up any dead animals.
Australia has two species of crocodile. The large saltwater crocodile lives in both salt and freshwater and are dangerous to humans. The freshwater crocodile lives in rivers and eats fish and are not normally a danger. The only thing people can do to protect themselves from saltwater crocodiles is to never swim in their habitat.
Please visit the AUSMEPA website for more information:
https://www.ausmepa.org.au/educators/middle-year/mangroves/mangrove-animals/
Did you know…?
Did you know…. these interesting facts about mangroves?
Two thirds of the fish we eat spend part of their life in mangroves.
Mangroves are trees or shrubs that live in seawater. They occur in the area between high and low tide along the coast, estuaries and up rivers.
Only two counties, Indonesia and Brazil have more mangroves than Australia.
Australian mangroves cover nearly 12,000 square kilometres.
Mangroves cover 18% of the Australian coastline.
Mangroves help protect the land from the sea during cyclones and storms.
Mangrove habitats store more carbon than rainforests. Much of the carbon is in the mud.
Sourced from: Australian Marine Environment Protection Association, 21 March 2020, at: https://www.ausmepa.org.au/educators/middle-year/mangroves/mangrove-amazing-facts/
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