Over 100 miles from the Gulf of Mexico , an ecosystem of salt - tolerant trees is fly high along a freshwater river . A squad of researchers recently investigate how this verdant oasis got so side - trail from its typical habitat , and they set up that the woods was ground inland during the last interglacial period more than 100,000 years ago .
“ We found these beautiful lagoon , a beautiful forest of crimson mangroves , ” said marine ecologist Octavio Aburto in a phone call . “ It ’s like a confused world . ”
Aburto , of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego , is part of a team that late channel a hereditary analysis of the timber alongside a geologic analysis to determine its age . They also go over the flora in the expanse ( besides the red mangrove ) and performed ocean level modeling to watch where the sea was during the Pleistocene epoch , which end nearly 12,000 years ago . All that inquiry on the seemingly out - of - place ecosystem was write today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
There’s a surprising mangrove ecosystem in Tabasco, Mexico.Photo: Octavio Aburto / Mares Mexicanos
The forest sit on the banks of the San Pedro Mártir River and was describe by Carlos Burelo , a phytologist at the Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco who co - authored the late newspaper . “ I used to fish here and run on these Rhizophora mangle as a small fry , but we never know just how they got there , ” Burelo allege in a UC San Diegopress release . “ That was the tug head that brought the team together . ”
The geologic analysis by the team turned up marine gastropod fogy , indicating that the sphere was n’t always a freshwater surround , an mind corroborated by the sea level model . During the last interglacial period , Earth was warm enough that the crank detonating gadget were fully melt down . Sea levels were between 20 and 30 feet higher than today , and water now relegated to the Gulf of Mexico was much far inland . The mangroves produce where the ocean ’s edge once was , but when the seawater retreat , the forest remained . The ecosystem is what ’s called a relict : a trace of the ancient past that managed to hang in .
The squad thinks the mangrove population survive in the orbit thanks to the case of fresh water that replaced the sea . The water is rich in calcium carbonate , thanks to the limestone rock-and-roll in the Tabasco realm . Red Rhizophora mangle can set up shop in calcic water system — without any seawater needed — though the situation is “ very rarified , ” harmonise to Aburto , who head the recent paper .
Lilypads in the mangrove forest, where many plants typically found in marine environments now live.Photo: Octavio Aburto
This Rhizophora mangle forest server other organism that typically live in seawater ecosystems ; the team recognized well-nigh 100 species that usually live near oceans , including some cacti and orchid , and yet were found many mile from any glide .
regrettably , the ancient forest is under threat . Farming and hunt in the area have seen the mangroves cut down and burned . Until the 1970s , the mangroves hide a all-embracing belt of the Tabasco area , but efforts to establish cattle range near the river have submit the last bit of the wood to the riverbank .
“ We hope this inquiry creates reinforcement for more protection of this reservoir of biodiversity , ” Aburto say . “ It can assist us to not only see the past weather of this planet , but also to avail empathize how we can adapt better to future change . ”
The forests are under threat from humans, mostly due to agriculture.Photo: Octavio Aburto
Though saltwater is what allowed the Rhizophora mangle to set up shop in the first seat , too much of a good thing can be hassle . While these mangroves are far inland today , other Rhizophora mangle forests are at imminent risk ofdrowning — being swamp by the very waters they call dwelling .
Aquatic ecology
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