Soil and mangrove: A review

Abstract

Mangrove forests dominate thecoastlines of tropical and subtropical climates ofthe world. Mangroves provide protection in coastal areas from storms and erosion to help create sources of income for human being. Research on mangroves received little focus earlier in the 20th century. The current knowledge on physico-chemical properties of soil, soil nutrition, ecological relationship of soil and vegetation and relationship of soil with species composition and structure of mangrove forests in tropical mangrove environment is reviewed and discussed. Large differences occur between mangrove forests with respect to soil pH, salinity, bulk density, CEC, nutrients, carbon and organic matter contents ofthe mangrove soils. Recent findings suggest that different soil properties influence the vegetation, species composition and structure ofmangroveforests. In recentyears,a considerable research resultson mangrovesoils are availableto improve our knowledge, but there are still significant gaps and shortcomings. These are, therefore, emphasized and relevant research directions are needed. This study provides a considerable updated knowledge which will help in exploring links for future research among soil properties, vegetation, species composition and structure of mangrove forests.