Journal of Marine Science: Research & Development
Open Access

Abstract

Mangroves lived on the edge of two environments. With one foot on land and another in the sea, mangroves could be called as botanical amphibian. It occupied a zone which was characterized by desiccating heat, choking mud, and salt levels that would kill an ordinary plant within hours. Mangroves forest was one of the most productive and biologically complex ecosystems on Earth. Birds roosted in mangroves canopy, shellfish was attaching themselves to mangroves roots, and snakes came to mangroves for hunt. Mangroves provided nursery grounds for fish, a food for crabs, and even a nectar source for bats and honeybees. The objective of research was to understand mangroves width at Maros District in 2012. To obtain final data of mangroves width in Maros District, thus it was validated through satellite imaging. The satellite imaging device was Citra Spot-4 of Acquisition 2010. The image of mangroves width was then classified. The previous data were processed by Landsat-7 ETM+ of Acquisition 2002, which were digitized and spatially analyzed using GIS. Result of analysis indicated that mangroves width at Maros District in 2002 was 757.30 ha, but it decreased to 269.49 ha in 2012. The reduction of mangrove wide was mostly due to the land conversion to the embankment and settlement areas.

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