In India, ecological studies of mangroves started with the work of Blater (1905). He described the mangroves of Bombay Presidency Biswas (1927 and 1934) Nawalkar (1940, 48 59 and 73) and Muller (1935) have done extensive work on Indian halophytes of Bombay Sidhu (1960, 1961 & 1963) has studied the mangrove of east Godavari Joshi and his students have studied the mangroves of Ratnagiri Untawale and his students have studied the ecology of mangroves of Mandovi and Zuari easturies and Mall and his students have worked on mangroves of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Recently, in 1990 WWF-India held a National Seminar of mangrove-Awareness in India under auspices of the Jawahar Lal Nehru community biodiversity programmes conducted by the Maharashtra and Goa state. Nearly, 200 participants took part in this seminar to discuss on various aspects of mangrove ecosystems. By discussion and deliberation on various aspects of mangroves we realized that then should be some books in Indian mangroves which can project the clear ideas about the structural and functional aspects of mangrove forests of India. This book is an outcome of the above and the information included in this is are mainly our own work conducted from 1980 to 1986 under project: "Ecological studies of mangrove forests of Andaman Islands" sponsored by DOE/MAB, India. The Andaman Islands consists of rich tropical rain forests, large tracts of mangrove forests and coral reefs. The islands hold a unique position in the biosphere as they possess flora and fauna that is a blend of the Indian and Burmese vegetations. There are numerous rare and endangered species of wild plants, insects, animals and birds of which several are endemic. We hope that this book will provide concise and sufficient information and will inspire mangrove researchers, botanists, biologists and environmentalists.
There are no reviews yet.