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Because Cuba is an archipelago made up by 4197 islands,〔:es:Geografía de Cuba〕 two of them being the largest ones; Cuba proper and Isla de la Juventud, the combined area of coast results in 5,746 square kilometers (3570.4 square miles) most of it – 2,200 square miles - covered by Mangrove forest.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Cuba )〕 These Mangrove forests make up 20 percent of the forested areas in the island, covering a total of 4.8 percent of the territory.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Cuba’s Mangroves Dying of Thirst )〕 ==Flora== Cuban Mangrove forests top layer is made up by 4 tree species; Rhizophora mangle (Red mangrove), Avicennia germinans (Black mangrove), Laguncularia racemosa (White mangrove) and Conocarpus erectus (Button mangrove). Depending on several factors, including water salinity, fresh water flow, coast shape and how deep it is affects the size of those 4 predominant species and how much they mix. In some places we can speak of a mono-forest (made up by just one species) in some other places all 4 species occur naturally. Sizes vary from very tall forests with a canopy at 15 meters (49.21 feet) of altitude, or they can look as small as shrubs no taller than 2 meters (6.56 feet).〔http://www.unesco.org.uy/ci/fileadmin/ciencias%20naturales/mab/EcosistemasManglarCuba.pdf〕 The Mangrove forest is also built with many other botanical species; they are usually identified as “associated species”. This a short list of the most predominant; Thespesia populnea (Portia tree), Hibiscus tiliaceus (Sea hibiscus), Bontia daphnoides (Sea olive), Haematoxylum campechianum (Bloodwood), Bravaisia tubiflora (Hulube), Dalbergia ecastophyllum (Dalbergia) and several species of trees from the Lucida genera. Salinity permitting, in some areas the forest is also formed by under story species adapted to high levels of salt; Acrostichum aureum (golden leather fern), Batis marítima (Saltwort) And among the branches of the larger trees live a large amount of epiphyt plants of the Tillandsia genera -usually called by their Taino name Curujeyes in Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean islands and referred as Bromeliads in English-.Many types of orchids from the Encyclea, Tulumnea and Vanilla genera. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Greater Antilles mangroves」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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