The inland mangroves of Inagua

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Mangroves located 50 km inland in the Lake Windsor basin in Inagua are described and compared with the island coastal mangroves. Measurements of soil and surface water salinity yielded high values typical of arid climates. Avicennia germinans and Laguncularia racemosa were found growing in the higher salinity soils while Rhizophora mangle was found fringing inland ocean holes with low salinities. Conocarpus erecta grew in elevated ridges. Scrub mangroves grow in the most extreme conditions of high salinity or over rocky soils. It is postulated that fresh sea water flows from ocean holes into the large Lake Windsor basin where high evaporation concentrates salts. Storms leach salts and maintain stable salinity conditions. Thus, the inland mangroves are not isolated from the sea but critically dependent on it as a source of fresh sea water. A critical examination of the data presented for the island of Barbuda by Stoddart, Bryan and Smith (1973) supports the idea that inland mangroves are connected to the sea.