Mangroves are typical tidal formations which are reguraly inundated by the hightides of the sea. Salinity may be one of the important factor for the structure and composition of the mangroves. Can any one give the explantion for the mangrove associates, mangroves and halophytes.
mangroves as halophytes share some biological characteristics, both need salinity for complete its life cylce.
Although Calotropis procera is not a plant from my region, it is a xerophytic plant in according with several authors and is growing in semiarid zones of India. Their condition of alien species would be indicates a successful adaptation in the zone. A wide use in traditional medicine could be a factor for their dissemination.
Thank you Dr.Jose for your inputs, Calotropis procera is basically terrestrial plant which shows the xerophytic adaptations, but it is not a saline plant. I have reported this plant in some estuarine regions where salinty levels are very low. Few researchers were considered some of the terrestrial plants as mangrove associates. I am thinking that due to some environemetal conditions some species able to grow in estuarine regions, but those are not mangroves/associated mangroves.
I do no think that Calotropis procera is a mangrove associate. It may sometimes gro neat sea in xerophytic conditionss and to a limit may be able to tolerate low salinity.
Please refer to a book on Mangroves "The Botany of mangroves" by Tomlinson, 1992. Although many research articles argue about halophytic nature of mangroves it is established that some of the mangroves could complete their life cycle even in concentrations higher than seawater salinity. Anything that could grow in "mangal" community may be regarded as "Mangrove Associate" (even ferns) and plants like NYPA and other members of family Palmaceae. Due to its xerophytic nature Calotropis procera may be considered as drought tolerant, yet it could grow near disturbed habitats of the coastal zones (e.g. dunes, salt flats etc.). However, you may not find it growing in masrhes or Estuaries. According to Khan and Qaiser (2006) it could be considered as a "Xero-hlaophyte" for its salt tolerance higher than 200 mM NaCl (Please refer to the definition of Flowers & Colmer, 2008). However, no research article has been published on flooding adaptations of Calotropis procera. Hence there is a doubt whether to call it a mangrove associate or not since it is not found in "FIVE" prescribed tidal inundation classes.
Dear Geddada,
Your question is very interesting and welcome. I'm not familiar with the species you mentioned, but:
Many species are classified in ecological groups according to some criteria, and some of them sometimes are been arbitrarily used. I had this kind of question for myself, when dealing with list of Romanian salt tolerant plants. Many species mentioned in the literature as growing in saline areas were not previously described as 'typical halophytes'. I hope you will find relevant content addressing your question in my book: Romanian salt tolerant plants. Taxonomy and Ecology, in its introductory part. It is free for download also from Researchgate. In this part, I discussed the semantic implications of the terms being used for plants in relation to salinity. Defining halophytes, despite some existing operational definitions, is still a difficult issue. As far as I'm concerned, the terms: halophytes, saline plants, salt tolerant plants, and so forth, are not perfect synonyms. For this reason, several confusions or difficulties may occur.
When you will find time, you may find background data in my book (s) and papers. Any halophyte is - by the nature of its adaptations - a special case/example o a xerophyte; contrarily, not all xerophytes (in the broader sense) are halophytes, despite many of them vegetate in arid environments, where salinization might occur, because of physical or physiological drought of the soil.
Marius
Hi.
I agree with some of the views about that Calotropis procera is not a halophyte. In both Canary and Cape Verde archipelagos, it grows inside xerophytic vegetation areas, normally in dry or even desert habitats. I have not found this species in communities of halophytic plants.
Best regards.
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