{"id":61842,"date":"2025-12-16T18:42:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=61842"},"modified":"2025-12-16T18:43:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:13:47","slug":"mangrove-cells-saltwater-survival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-12-2025\/mangrove-cells-saltwater-survival","title":{"rendered":"Mangroves\u2019 Cells Help Plants Survive in Saltwater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A new study published in <strong>Current Biology<\/strong> explains the cellular adaptations that enable mangrove species to tolerate extreme salt stress, offering insights for developing salt-tolerant crops in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Highlights of the Study<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Key cellular traits (not stomata-based): <\/strong>Mangroves do not rely on smaller or more numerous stomata to increase photosynthesis.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Instead, they exhibit: unusually small leaf epidermal pavement cells and thicker cell walls, which together give them more mechanical strength to tolerate low osmotic potentials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Salt management strategies<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Salt exclusion: <\/strong>Some mangroves have waxy root layers that filter out salt before water enters the plant.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Salt secretion<\/strong>: Other species absorb salt but <strong>secrete it through specialised leaf tissues<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Mangroves<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A mangrove is a <strong>small tree or shrub<\/strong> that grows along coastlines, taking root in salty sediments, often underwater.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mangroves are flowering trees, belonging to the families <strong>Rhizophoraceae, Acanthaceae, Lythraceae, Combretaceae, and Arecaceae<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Features:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Saline Environment:<\/strong> A speciality of mangroves is that they can survive under extreme hostile environments such as high salt and low oxygen conditions.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The roots filter out 90% of the salt they come into contact with within the saline and brackish water.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Low oxygen:<\/strong> Underground tissue of any plant needs oxygen for respiration. The mangrove root system absorbs oxygen from the atmosphere.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Store Freshwater:<\/strong> Mangroves, like desert plants, store fresh water in thick succulent leaves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mangroves are viviparous:<\/strong> Their seeds germinate while still attached to the parent tree. Once germinated, the seedling grows into a propagule.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>Sundarbans in West Bengal<\/strong> are the largest mangrove region in the world and a <strong>UNESCO World Heritage Site.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The second largest mangrove forest in India is <strong>Bhitarkanika (Ramsar site<\/strong>) in Odisha created by the two river deltas of <strong>Rivers Brahmani and Baitarani.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Importance of Mangroves<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Natural Coastal Defence:<\/strong> A mature mangrove belt (50 years old and 100\u20131,000 m wide) can reduce wave energy by 7\u201355%, significantly lowering the impact of cyclones, storm surges and coastal flooding compared to non-mangrove coastlines.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Biodiversity Hotspots: <\/strong>India\u2019s mangroves support about 4,011 species, including 920 plant species and 3,091 animal species.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Climate Change Mitigation (Blue Carbon):<\/strong> Mangroves store 7.5\u201310 times more carbon per acre than tropical forests.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Livelihood and Economic Security: <\/strong>Mangrove ecosystems support millions of livelihoods globally through fisheries, aquaculture, eco-tourism and restoration activities, providing income security for vulnerable coastal communities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cost-effective Nature-based Solutions<\/strong>: By combining disaster risk reduction, biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration, mangroves offer a low-cost, high-impact solution compared to engineered coastal defences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"b2c9c3\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-99-1024x559.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-61843\" style=\"--dominant-color: #b2c9c3; aspect-ratio:1.8318737860769414;width:360px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-99-1024x559.png 1024w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-99-300x164.png 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-99-768x419.png 768w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-99-1536x838.png 1536w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-99.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/how-mangroves-cells-helps-plants-survive-in-saltwater\/article70375660.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PIB<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">A new study published in Current Biology explains the cellular adaptations that enable mangrove species to tolerate extreme salt stress, offering insights for developing salt-tolerant crops in the future.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Highlights of the Study<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Key cellular traits (not stomata-based): Mangroves do not rely on smaller or more numerous stomata to increase photosynthesis.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Instead, they exhibit: unusually small leaf epidermal pavement cells and thicker cell walls, which together give them more mechanical strength to tolerate low osmotic potentials.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-12-2025\/mangrove-cells-saltwater-survival\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61842"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61845,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61842\/revisions\/61845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}