Question 180
HardOriginal questionMost trees would die if salt water covered their roots twice a day. Mangroves live exactly there. These trees and grow along coasts in the intertidal zone, the strip of shore that the tide covers and then uncovers, and there are about eighty different kinds of them.
Their home is a hard one. The soil is low in oxygen, and the water moves slowly enough for fine mud to settle. Mangroves also cannot survive freezing weather, so they grow only in warm regions near the .
Many mangrove forests are easy to recognise by their prop roots, which make the trees look as if they are standing on above the water. These roots let the trees with the daily rise and fall of the tide, which floods most mangroves at least twice a day.
The roots do more than hold up the tree. They slow down the moving water, so that mud settles and builds up the muddy floor. In this way mangrove forests hold the coastline together, reducing the damage done by waves, currents, tides and storms. And the of roots gives fish and other creatures a place to find food and to hide from the animals that hunt them.
According to the last paragraph, how do mangroves protect the coastline?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The roots "slow down the moving water, so that mud settles and builds up the muddy floor", and so the forests "hold the coastline together".
This reduces the damage from waves, currents, tides and storms.
Worth noting
The roots give fish a place to shelter, which is the opposite of keeping them away.
- Concept
- Following a cause-and-effect explanation
- Typical timeTypical
- 55 s
- Your timeYours
- —
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