20
jelly, has been prepared from S. apetala fruit. Ice creams, cookies, breads have been
prepared from mangrove associate seaweeds Enteromorpha intestinalis (Mitra et al.
2016; Pramanick 2017). There are also reports of preparing breakfast snacks like
samosa and kachuri from mangrove associate species like Suaeda maritima and
Salicornia brachiata (Biswas et al. 2019). All these are few innovations under the
umbrella of provisioning services of mangroves, and are yet to see the light of mass
scale production and proper marketing facility.
In addition to true mangrove species there are also associate species in the same
ecosystem which also play great role in terms of ecosystem services. The floral species in mangrove ecosystem can be categorized into true mangroves and mangrove
associates. The species which are adapted to mangrove habitat and do not extend
into other terrestrial plant communities are referred to as true mangrove species. On
contrary, plants that occur in the coastal environment and also within the mangroves
are referred to as mangrove associate species. It has been observed that mangrove
associate species can also thrive luxuriantly in terrestrial region far away from mangroves. Seaweeds often associated with the mangrove ecosystem and distributed in
shallow water adjacent to intertidal mudflats have wide application in the health
care services. Several mangrove associated seaweeds are used for manufacturing
cosmetics (Table 1.9) due to presence of nutritional elements, antioxidant and iodine
in their thallus body.
The concept of ecosystem services of mangroves was also brain stormed amongst
the stakeholders associated with mangrove ecosystem in the frame work of Indian
Sundarbans during 2016–2018 through a set of questionnaires (Vide Annexure A).
The entire network of the study consisted of three stages (i) identification of respondents (policy maker, researcher, fisherman, agriculturist and local inhabitant) (ii)
identification of major ecosystem services offered by mangroves (8 in numbers) and
(iii) evaluation of the respondent’s response to construct the Ecosystem Service
Scale (ESS) through ranking and voting. Although services can be of various types,
the present list captures the major services offered by mangroves in three sectors of
Indian Sundarbans (western, central and eastern) and was ranked in terms of their
importance by building a Service Assessment Matrix (SAM). However, as there is
high probability of variation of this ranking with the category of respondents, therefore the views of the respondents were also considered (by inclusion of the % of
voting along with their respective ranking factor) and finally Composite Ecosystem
Service Scale (CESS) in context to Indian Sundarban mangrove ecosystem was
constructed as per the expression:
CESS = ESS1+ ESS2 + ESS3 + ESS4 + ESS5
Where, ESS = Service Rank (SR) × % of Vote.
It is to be noted in this context that the sample size of respondents are variable
e.g., for policy maker it is 29, but for other five groups of respondents n = 105 for
each group.
Table 1.10 reflects the results of respondent analysis in the western sector of
Indian Sundarbans, which is almost semi-urbanized with fish landing stations/
1 Ecosystem Services of Mangroves: An Overview
jelly, has been prepared from S. apetala fruit. Ice creams, cookies, breads have been
prepared from mangrove associate seaweeds Enteromorpha intestinalis (Mitra et al.
2016; Pramanick 2017). There are also reports of preparing breakfast snacks like
samosa and kachuri from mangrove associate species like Suaeda maritima and
Salicornia brachiata (Biswas et al. 2019). All these are few innovations under the
umbrella of provisioning services of mangroves, and are yet to see the light of mass
scale production and proper marketing facility.
In addition to true mangrove species there are also associate species in the same
ecosystem which also play great role in terms of ecosystem services. The floral species in mangrove ecosystem can be categorized into true mangroves and mangrove
associates. The species which are adapted to mangrove habitat and do not extend
into other terrestrial plant communities are referred to as true mangrove species. On
contrary, plants that occur in the coastal environment and also within the mangroves
are referred to as mangrove associate species. It has been observed that mangrove
associate species can also thrive luxuriantly in terrestrial region far away from mangroves. Seaweeds often associated with the mangrove ecosystem and distributed in
shallow water adjacent to intertidal mudflats have wide application in the health
care services. Several mangrove associated seaweeds are used for manufacturing
cosmetics (Table 1.9) due to presence of nutritional elements, antioxidant and iodine
in their thallus body.
The concept of ecosystem services of mangroves was also brain stormed amongst
the stakeholders associated with mangrove ecosystem in the frame work of Indian
Sundarbans during 2016–2018 through a set of questionnaires (Vide Annexure A).
The entire network of the study consisted of three stages (i) identification of respondents (policy maker, researcher, fisherman, agriculturist and local inhabitant) (ii)
identification of major ecosystem services offered by mangroves (8 in numbers) and
(iii) evaluation of the respondent’s response to construct the Ecosystem Service
Scale (ESS) through ranking and voting. Although services can be of various types,
the present list captures the major services offered by mangroves in three sectors of
Indian Sundarbans (western, central and eastern) and was ranked in terms of their
importance by building a Service Assessment Matrix (SAM). However, as there is
high probability of variation of this ranking with the category of respondents, therefore the views of the respondents were also considered (by inclusion of the % of
voting along with their respective ranking factor) and finally Composite Ecosystem
Service Scale (CESS) in context to Indian Sundarban mangrove ecosystem was
constructed as per the expression:
CESS = ESS1+ ESS2 + ESS3 + ESS4 + ESS5
Where, ESS = Service Rank (SR) × % of Vote.
It is to be noted in this context that the sample size of respondents are variable
e.g., for policy maker it is 29, but for other five groups of respondents n = 105 for
each group.
Table 1.10 reflects the results of respondent analysis in the western sector of
Indian Sundarbans, which is almost semi-urbanized with fish landing stations/
1 Ecosystem Services of Mangroves: An Overview