Mangroves of the Straits of Malacca

Under the Ramsar Convention, the government and relevant stakeholders have an obligation to ensure the mangrove ecosystem and its values are maintained.

It is part of the Important Bird Area (IBA) of southwest Johor, which extends from Parit Jawa to Tanjung Piai.

The southwest Johor mangroves are ecologically important as a natural barrier to protect the inland villages and agricultural lands from storm events, including tsunamis.

Mangrove roots hanging in water along creeks and inlets are home a variety of epibionts (those that encrust) such as sponges, barnacles, bivalves, and algae.

The tree trunks within forest are also a habitat for epibionts (small encrusting invertebrates) such as barnacles, bivalves, and several species of mobile gastropods including periwinkles.

The soft sediment in the mangrove forest is the habitat of polychaetes, gastropods, crabs and a sipuncula (peanut worm).

Benthic invertebrates are a source of food for vertebrates (for example, reptiles, birds, otters, and shallow water fish that come into the mangrove shore at high tide).

Crabs and gastropods are the major seed predators in mangrove forests and play an important role in determining plant community structure.

Grapsid crabs dominate in Australia, Malaysia and Panama, while gastropods Cerithidea scalariformis and Melampus coeffeus are important seed predators in Florida mangroves.

Grapsid crabs are major consumers of mangrove leaf litter and therefore produce large amounts of fecal material rich in nutrients and energy.

Animal biomass is a source of food for vertebrate predators; e.g. reptiles, birds, otters, and inshore fishes that come in at high tide.