Our first hike of the trip was out into the dead mangrove forest. The reason why the entire forest had died was due to a hurricane. Red Mangroves are one of the few plants which can grow in salt water and in anaerobic soil. They have made specific adaptations which allow them to exist in such an environment. These adaptations unfortunately proved their downfall when the hurricane hit. The Red Mangroves died because the winds from the hurricane blew salt water on the upper part of the plant.	The Dead Mangrove Forest
Ed Talks About Mangrove Roots Systems	The fact that salt got onto the upper part of the plant is what killed it. It's somewhat ironic that the roots of the plant are specifically built to withstand a salt environment, but the leaves of the plant cannot. The root systems of the red mangrove descend from the branches of the tree and down through the water and into the soil. The roots are able to take in water and nutrients, and yet they are able to exclude the salt present in the water and the soil. Since the roots are in a anaerobic environment the tree needs to get oxygen from another source. It takes in air through pockets called lenticels which occur along the length of the root. Since the root descends from the branches it is exposed to air before it enters the water. Another type of mangrove called the Black Mangrove uses a different set of adaptations to deal with salt. The black mangrove actually takes in salt with the water and nutrients and excretes it onto its leaves. You can actually see and taste the salt crystals on the leaves of the plant. It aerates itself by using snorkel like adaptations on its roots.
These "snorkels" grow up and out of the soil and poke through the water to the air to take in oxygen. As you might guess we spent most of this hike talking about mangrove biology, but we also found a large termite nest living in one of the dead trees and a red fly larvae living in a plant underneath the murky pond water. We ended our hike trying to hike up a hill to the road. This attempt was unsuccessful. This was due to large amounts of plants specifically designed to cut and abrade mammals in many different fashions. Overall though it was fun and informative and we ended up swimming fully clothed off of the nearby beach.	Wading in the Mangrove Pond
Swimming After Hiking Through the Hills