สำนักงานราชบัณทิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 64  Mangroves … National, Social and Economic Costs Mangroves provide welfare to coastal communities (Figure 6), they are like a supermarket that provide a variety of products such as shrimp, shellfish, crab, fi sh, and energy as well as fi rewood/charcoal and herbs. If put in economic terms, mangroves are comparable to providing “welfare cost” assurance to coastal communities (Figure 7) and localities throughout the nation. The mangrove contributes towards providing a “suf fi cient-living” for several generations of coastal communities and localities. Figure 6: Mangrove products at a local supermarket in a coastal community Figure 7: A coastal community along the coastline Mangrove Environment Generally, mangroves cover an area along the coastline with very strict to special environmental features; for example tropical climate, inter-tidal zones, muddy soil and brackish water. The structure and functioning of the mangrove ecosystem is strongly in fl uenced by a combination of many important environmental factors (Aksornkoae, 1993; Hutchings and Saenger, 1987) including topography, climate, tidal range and inundation, soil and water conditions, waves and currents and nutrients both from land and sea. Mangrove Flora Mangrove forests are rich in floristic composition including tree species, palms, epiphytic fl owering plants, algae and phytoplankton. According to the record of mangrove species in Thailand (Aksornkoae at al. 1992 and Aksornkoae, 1993), there are approximately 74 species. Most of the dominant and important species are Mangroves … Coastal Treasure of Thailand