New data shows benefits of Florida’s mangroves on the environment

Share
estuary plant
Red mangrove. By Seán Kinane/WMNF News, 2009.

Listen:

This week, The Nature Conservancy Florida released new research supporting the coastal protection and ecosystem benefits provided by mangrove forests.

Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow on coastal waters. They cover over 430 thousand acres in Florida.

New data released by The Nature Conservacy Florida shows just how crucial mangroves are. Senior marine scientist Laura Geselbracht describes their importance.

“Our mangroves, the present value of reducing storm surge flooding is 50 billion dollars, which is huge! And, you know, these mangroves are working beyond just flood protection. They’re also sequestering carbon, they’re providing fish and wildlife habitat, they are helping to prevent erosion of our shorelines.” she says.

However, Geselbracht worries that a mix of rising sea levels due to climate change and urban development in Florida may harm mangrove growth.

“Many of our urban areas in Florida are highly developed so mangroves don’t have a chance to move up slope as sea level rise progresses. They’re kind of squeezed between the sea level and that urban development.”

She encourages people to support Florida preserves where mangroves grow.

“Embrace the expansion of mangroves into new areas of the state where maybe they haven’t seen them before. Don’t think they’re invasive species – they’re not. They’re native species, they provide a lot of benefits.”

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

Potential Trump cuts to food stamps may impact major Tampa food bank

Listen: Trump’s “big beautiful” tax bill passed the House last...

The Scoop: Tue. May 27, 2025, Tampa Bay and Florida headlines by WMNF

WMNF headlines including Polk County Sheriff's Deputy, University of West...

Residents are still clearing out their homes after storm surge damage
Storm Surge: Impacts of the 2024 hurricane season on the Tampa Bay community

Tropical Storm Debby & Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The 2024...

Casey DeSantis, Hope Florida
The state should have audited the $10 million Hope Florida deal. It didn’t happen: Trident

It was struck without any oversight from the state’s CFO,...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

MidPoint
MidPoint