Question

Mangrove vegetation is found in
(a) Sundarbans
(b) Kullu valley
(c) Western ghat
(d) Dehradun valley

Answer 1

Hint: A mangrove is a small tree or shrub that grows in brackish water. Brackish water is the water that results from the mixing of seawater with freshwater. Such water has salinity more than freshwater, but less than seawater.

Complete answer:
Mangrove vegetation is found in the Sundarbans delta. The Sundarbans are located in the Ganges River delta in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, and present the largest mangrove forest in the world.
Mangroves are halophytes that are adapted to live in harsh coastal conditions. They are having a complex root system to cope with saltwater immersion and strong wave action. They have been adapted to the low oxygen conditions of waterlogged mud.
- The soil of the Delta region is waterlogged and having very little free oxygen available mangroves have pneumatophores to absorb gases like oxygen directly from the atmosphere and nutrients like iron from the waterlogged soil.
- The anaerobic bacteria liberate nitrogen gas, soluble iron, inorganic phosphates, sulfides, and methane into the water from the soil in the waterlogged or delta region.
- Mangroves absorb and store gases and other nutrients directly inside the roots, they are processing them even in the submerged condition during high tide.
- Sundarban delta is also known as Bengal delta because it is present in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. It stretches from the Hooghly River east as far as the Meghna River.
So, the correct answer is ’Sundarbans’.

Note:
- Halophytes are salt-tolerant plants having a complex salt filtration system to cope up with high salt content in water.
- Pneumatophores are aerial roots that help the plant in the absorption of nutrients and gases from the atmosphere.
- Delta is a wetland that is formed at the mouth of a river that empties their water and sediment into another water body, like an ocean, lake, or another river.
- The Pichavaram mangroves are India's one of the largest mangrove forests in Tamil Nadu.