USING MANGROVES TO SCREEN FOR MUTAGENS IN TROPICAL MARINE ENVIRONMENTS

Mangrove-fringed coasts are a common sight along many tropical shores. In the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico the red mangrove, Rhizophora mangle, often forms large forests between the land and the sea. These arborescent flowering plants are one of the few tree species that has the necessary adaptations to grow in seawater. In addition, red mangro ves possess reproductive traits that permit the easy detection of nucl ear and cytoplasmic mutations in the field. Because of these reproduct ive characteristics, coastal mangrove forests may be assayed for genet ic damage in the same way as colonies of bacteria or yeasts are screen ed for mutation. The difference between mangroves and microbes is one of scale; mangroves are larger, have longer life cycles, and are expos ed to environmental mutagens for greater periods of time (that is year s rather than hours).