Mesoamerican Mangroves - Code: Ne12A

Mangroves are trees that are adapted to grow in an ephemerally saline flooded environment. Most grow in saline intertidal conditions, often in large inlets and tidal river systems, where fluctuations in water level can even exceed 5m, though freshwater species do exist where the daily tidal flooding backs up the brackish waters. The habitat is not precipitation driven as other habitats, but is still governed by temperature being found in tropical and subtropical regions.
There is considerable structural variation, both within and between species of mangroves, and different species tend to grow in slightly different conditions. In both tropical Mexico and subtropical Florida, the fringe mangroves closest to the sea face more tidal action and wave action than more distal stands. On the ocean side, mangrove stands are protected from the sea by smaller 10-20 ft (3-6m) fringe mangroves  species Rhizophora such as red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), Gentleman Mangrove (Rhizophora  harrisonii), and in areas slightly more protected, the Mangrove Rhizophora racemosa, which can grow taller than the other Rhizophoras. They generally have  that have prop roots that branch out spider like from the bottom quarter of the trees and give the mangrove forests an eerie feel. 
Some large mangrove trees over 60 ft (20m) and even up to 120 ft (40m) that are more protected from wave action  have straight trunks going into the mud such as the aforementioned Red Mangrove which can grow as a tall tree when protected from wave action, Black Mangrove (Avicennia germinans), button mangrove (Conocarpus erectus), Avicennia bicolor,  White Mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), and a mangrove with buttress roots that are more typical of a swamp forest, the Tea Mangrove (Pelliciera rhizophorae)
Within our region, species diversity is highest in southern Mexico and the Caribbean, where diverse mangrove forests also support several salt-tolerant plant species that are not classified as mangroves, such as Yolilla (Raphia taedigera) and Paurotis Palm (Acoelorraphe wrightii) . These mangrove forests can also have plants such as orchids from surrounding rainforests, which grow as epiphytes on the trunks and branches of mangrove trees or along with golden leather fern (Acrostichum aureum) that grows clumps of detritus caught at the tops of mangrove  roots. In some of these forests, which are generally bordered on the land side by Peten swamp forest or Mesoamerica lowland rainforest, the change from mangrove forest to swamp forest  can be imperceptible from the air, and it is only at ground level that the boundary between habitats is obvious with species like Mora (Mora megistosperma) exist in both habitats.. Along the Pacific coastline and in the drier parts of the Yucatan the situation is very different mangroves abruptly merge with deserts, thornscrubs and savannas, there is very little overlap with mangroves species and the surrounding mainland habitats, and the stark differences in habitats are obvious.

Mangroves are pioneer plants that establish on otherwise unvegetated substrates, they can be successional but without a change in wave dynamics, the system changes little over time, If the mangroves are moving into a mudflat, with extension of the fringe mangroves, the habitat will change to “forest” mangroves, and potentially even to Peten Swamp Forest if elevated.