Discuss the Mangrove forest in India.
Mangrove forest:
(i)Mangroves grow along the coasts in the salt marshes, tidal creeks, mud-flats and estuaries.
(ii)They consist of a number of salt-tolerant species of plants.
(iii)Crisscrossed by creeks of stagnant water and tidal flows, these forests give shelter to a wide variety of birds.
(iv)In India, the mangrove forests spread over 6,740 sq. km which is 7 per cent of the world’s mangrove forests.
(v)They are highly developed in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Sunderbans of West Bengal. Other areas of significance are the Mahanadi, the Godavari and the Krishna deltas.
