Avicennia marina | UAE National Red List of Vascular Plants
Taxa
Avicennia marina | (Forsk.) Vierh.
Publication
Asessment status in full
Near Threatened
Assessment status abreviation
NT
Assessment status criteria
B2ab(iii)
Assessment rationale/justification
This species is assessed as Near Threatened due to its restricted distribution. The AOO is estimated at close to 150 km<sup>2</sup> and there is still ongoing development of coastal areas within the UAE, however, the number of threat-based locations is estimated to be greater than 10. Although this species represents the dominant mangrove species and the area of mangrove habitat has actually increased in the UAE within the last 10-20 years, mangroves are still at risk from intensive coastal development. In addition, these trees have important economic and ecological value in terms of providing habitats to other species and tolerating extreme conditions. It is recommended that more of these habitats are designated as protected areas, along with ongoing planting strategies.
Assessment year
2019
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Affliation of assessor(s)/contributors/reviewers listed on assessment
Government
IGO
Assessor affiliation specific
Government|IGO
Criteria system specifics
IUCN v3.1 + Regional Guidelines v4.0
Criteria system used
IUCN
Criteria Citation
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Endemic to region
Not_assigned
Endemism Notes
Is an endemic?: Not_assigned
Threats listed in assessment
Mangrove habitats used to be much more widespread in the UAE than they are currently (Hogarth and Beech 2001). These populations were depleted through using the wood of the trees for architecture and for building boats (Hogarth and Beech 2001). These trees are grazed by camels which can reduce their overall height (Karim and Dakheel 2006), however this is not thought to be a major threat as these trees are not though to be very palatable to animals (Norton et al. 2009). Expansion of coastal areas for public recreation will threaten this species as the coastline is converted from natural habitats (Ghazanfar and Fisher 1998). Losses in mangrove habitat area from several of the Emirates have been noted in the past two decades, due to land use change and development (Moore et al. 2013). In addition, physical removal of mangroves and hydrological changes to these coastal areas as a result of creation of new islands are important threats to the grey mangrove (H.S. Das pers. comm. 2019). However, despite this potential threat, it appears that over the last 10-20 years the UAE's extent of mangrove habitats seems to have actually increased, overall (Moore et al. 2013).
Conservation Measures
Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures:
History
This species is still impacted in parts of its rage from coastal development, however, conservation efforts and planting regimes have helped to increase the area occupied by this species in the UAE, in addition to facilitating an overall population increase within the species' historical range.
Scientific Name | Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | Genus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Avicennia marina | Plantae | Tracheophyta | Magnoliopsida | Lamiales | Acanthaceae | Avicennia |