FAUNA DIVERSITY AND ECONOMIC VALUES OF THE MANGROVE ECOSYSTEMS IN SRI LANKA
Abstract: Mangroves are of great ecological importance and socio-economic significance as a hub for tropical marine biotope. The mangroves are also one of the world’s richest storehouses of biological and genetic diversity. Furthermore, 90 % of the marine organisms spend part of their life in this ecosystem and 80 % of the global fish catches are dependent on mangroves. Mangrove forests are considered as a highly productive ecosystem, they provide important ecological and economic services. Besides, mangroves and their associated biota are identified as a promising source of natural and novel drugs. Introduction Mangrove is a salt-tolerant plant that occurs within inter-tidal zones where a river enters into the sea, especially in the coastal belt. They are a highly productive, tropical coastal ecosystem encompassing estuaries, creeks, lagoons, backwaters, mud-flats, salt-pans, and islands which has both great aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity and plays an integral role in coastal e...