A 125,000 - year - old red mangrove forest , renowned for screw saltwater habitats , is mysteriously flourishing on the banks of a freshwater river in the Yucatan Peninsula . Over 200 kilometers ( 124 air mile ) from the Gulf of Mexico coast , the ancient forest is very far from family .
Mangroves are common salt - large-minded trees , shrubs , and medal normally find along tropic and subtropical coastlines . However , as Octavio Aburto - Oropeza , co - author of a raw study put out inPNASexplained in astatement , this particular forest has been “ trap in meter for more than 100,000 years , ” hence its unusual location .
strand inland during the last interglacial period , whensea levelswere six to nine meters ( 20 to 30 feet ) higher than now , the ancient coastal ecosystem now finds itself beside the San Pedro Martir River , which runs from Guatemala to Mexico . The team found the forest was home to closely 100 species that usually prefer saltier climate but had adapted to a freshwater environment some 125,000 years ago , persisting in their beloved home despite the withdraw ocean . The squad speculates that they were able to survive thanks to the calcic waters that replace the sea – the river work through limestone , so its water is productive in Ca carbonate .
Using genetic , geologic , and vegetation data , plus sea - tier clay sculpture , researchers have shed sparkle on the “ lose ” forest for the first time , allowing us a glance at the ball-shaped environment of the last interglacial catamenia – a time when Earth warmed and ice caps fully melted . As the major planet cool off and sea level drop , the Rhizophora mangle ecosystem quite literally stood its ground and became a relict of a quick , piquant past . The finding play up the impact climate change had on the once - coastline , and on the lowland of the Gulf of Mexico , which were ostensibly underwater during the ice old age .
The authors hope that their work will serve up as an opportunity to better understand the core of clime modification on coastal ecosystems , assea level once again rise .
“ The San Pedro Rhizophora mangle are warning us about the dramatic encroachment that climate change could have on the coastal field of the Gulf of Mexico if we do not take urgent activity to stop the emission of greenhouse gases , ” the authors say .
Protecting the realm around the study website , for the most part deforested in the seventies , is also vital , the author add . They “ hope [ their ] results convert the government of Tabasco and Mexico ’s environmental government of the need to protect this ecosystem . The story of Pleistocene glacial cycles is write in the DNA of its plants wait for scientist to decrypt it . ”
