Introduction: The term mangroves collectively refers to woody halophytic
angiospermic trees inhabiting in the intertidal zone of coastal-estuarine regions in the
tropics and subtropics, especially between 250 N and 250
S where the winter water temperature remains not less than 200 C. Abundance of mangroves
declines gradually with increasing latitudes. Mangrove ecosystem represents one of
the most productive natural wetlands found in the intertidal zone of tropical and
subtropical regions of the world. This specialized
ecosystem, dominated by intertidal salt tolerant halophytic vegetation and enjoying the
influences of two high and two low tides a day, offers a unique environment for
bioresource development on one hand and maintains ecological balance through the
protection of coastal line on the other. This detritus based coastal ecosystem is highly
productive having a productivity of about 20 times more than the
average oceanic production. The importance of mangrove ecosystem for its potential for
fisheries and aquaculture development has received wide acceptance all over the globe
mainly due to two reasons: Firstly , large quantities of
energy, in the form of mangrove plants contributed detritus, are exported from the
mangrove forest to open water bodies and positive correlation
in between the extent of mangroves and total fisheries yield from adjacent water Secondly,
profitable regional and international markets for
high quality aquaculture products are available. Owing to difficulties in accessing
rigorous mangrove ecosystems, in depth ecological researches are limited in comparison
to such studies on some other coastal ecosystems like coral reefs. However, their
geographical distribution, floral and faunal surveys and potential for fisheries prompted
more research on mangroves in the last couple of decades The present paper deals with the
diversity, distribution, zonation, succession, ecological
interactions of mangrove flora and fauna of Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem of India
with special emphasis on different threats and conservation strategies of this ecosystem.
Study Area: The Mangrove dominated estuarine networks represent the major feature of
coastal environment of West Bengal. The Indian Sundarban having 102 deltaic islands,
(42 virgin and 54 reclaimed) is located between 210 30′ - 220 15′N & between 880 10′ - 890
10′ E mostly within South 24- Parganas Districts of the state of West Bengal (Fig.-1).
This largest tidal wetland and only mangrove tiger land on the earth, declared by IUCN,
1997 as ‘World’s Heritage Site’, represents a highly valued ecosystem in terms of
economy, ecology and environment. It includes a Tiger Reserve (2585 km2
, 1970), 3 wild life sanctuaries (Lothian, 3,800 ha; 1948; Sojnekhali, 35,240 ha; 1960 and
Holiday Island, 595 ha; 1976) and one National Park (1330 km2; 1972). However, the
landscape of the Indian Sundarban has changed remarkably because of several natural and
anthropological activities like land reclamation, drainage control, sediment control,
protective measures against tidal flooding, neotectonic movement, international treaty on
sharing of fresh water etc over past centuries. The cumulative effect of all those changes
led to alter physicochemical properties of this ecosystem (salinity invasion, massive shoreline
erosion coupled with unwanted accretion, shifting of mudflats and sand dunes, increased
turbidity, temperature, tidal amplitude and decreased transparency, nutrients, pH etc ). Such
changes have resulted to modification of species composition of biotic communities leading
to the decline and loss of mangrove dependant detritivores, herbivores and other carnivores.
