Red and Black Mangroves (VIDEO)

South Florida is home the 2nd largest mangrove forest in the world. The largest is in Indonesia and typical of mangrove forests the diversity of trees is low. The forest is often dominated by Red, Black or White Mangroves and in the following short video I explain the difference between the reds and the blacks.

All mangroves grow in a salty or brackish water and each has a unique adaptation to survive there. Red Mangroves are capable of blocking salt water from entering their roots, while

Black Mangroves excrete salt trough their leaves. Below you can see the salt crystals on the leaf.

Below are leaves from the four main species found in a mangrove forest. From left to right - Black Mangrove, Red Mangrove, White Mangrove and Buttonwood.

Mangroves grow from Tampa on Florida's west coast around the pennisula and north to Jacksonville. Well....rumor has it they have one mangrove tree up there. We'll count it. But the majority of the mangroves cap the bottom of the Everglades and makes up what is known as the 10,000 Islands National Wildlife Refuge - a vast wilderness made up of well over 15,000 small mangrove tree islands. Can you blame someone for stopping their count at 10,000? I've simply outlined the area below.

View Mangrove Forest in a larger map

Videography and editing by Patricio Garcia and Jose Espaillet

Owen's Everglades Adventure!

Hi, my name is Owen Schumacher.

And I was lucky enough to have taken a fascinating eco safari with Mr. Corradino. I met Pete about five years ago in Vermont. I did one of his wildlife camps and learned almost every thing I know about nature from that camp. I did that camp for three more years until Pete moved back to Florida. Ever since then I have been wanting to visit him and go on one of his eco tours. Well this spring break I got a chance to. (all photos by Owen - 4/23/08)

(Pete, Owen and his brother Trevor)

On this tour I saw many things. One of my favorite things I saw all of the alligators. On the whole tour we must have seen at least ( or what felt like) 150 alligators. It was unbelievable.

Also we saw the smallest post office in the united states. At first I thought it was a joke, it was so small and then I read the plaque and saw the lady that was inside. I also saw the mangrove islands, which was extremely interesting. The mangrove islands are made up of only mangrove trees, no land at all. The cool thing about it is that the islands can only grow bigger, which means that the mangroves are for ever (unless people find a way to build resorts and condos on them). We also saw lots of birds (little blue heron great blue heron, etc.). The funnest thing we did was the fanboat ride. Everything about it was fun, even the noise. Everywhere you looked there was alligators, at least five in every cluster, all good size. On that boat ride we also saw 1,800 year old canoes, from the Seminole Indians; very fascinating. (Actually a Calusa canoe!)

Overall, the eco safari I took with Pete Corradino was a fun experience that I will never forget.