FROM TRADITIONAL USE TO TOTAL DESTRUCTION - FORMS AND EXTENT OF ECONOMIC UTILIZATION IN THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN MANGROVES

摘要

Mangrove is used in the following as a broad term to mean a salt-tolerant forest ecosystem bound to the intertidal shallow-water areas, lagoons and river estuaries of the tropics and subtropics. The original collective term for a group of indeciduoustree and shrub species occurring on the seaward side of the coastline in the tidal zone, from the low-water line to the spring tide high-water line, today encompasses their range as a habitat in which the living organisms of the soil, the water and the air are intertwined by a variety of interactions both with each other and with the elements of their physical environment. Mangrove is an open ecosystem which is sustained by the flow of energy and nutrients (e. g. fresh water delivery and tidal flow) from the neighbouring marine and land systems and in turn influences them. The term tidal forest is used as a synonym of mangrove.