Mangrove floral diversity and necessity for conservation of Interu mangrove swamp of River Krishna estuarine region Andhra Pradesh, India

Mangrove ecosystem is a unique coastal wetland habitat formed at the transition zone of marine and freshwater ecosystem and also having close interaction with adjacent ecosystems. They are of great ecological and socio economic significance. Moreover, mangroves act as bulkheads against natural calamities. Moreover, 90% of marine species spend part of their life cycle in the mangrove ecosystem meanwhile 80% of global fish catch are mangrove dependent. Worldwide in the long past this ecosystem are threatened due to anthropogenic intervention. In recent years Interu mangrove swamp of river Krishna estuarine region is subjected to severe degradation owing to human intervention such as rapid development in aquaculture activities, cutting of mangrove trees for timber/coal, lesser inflow of freshwater , hyper salinity, upland industrial pollutants and development of coastal corridor. In the present study records the 23 species of 14 families of mangrove plants of these 11 species are true mangroves and 12 species are mangrove associates. The causative aspects for decline of the mangrove swamp ecosystem and necessary steps for conservation are discussed.