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The forest

Mangroves are forests in swamps along the tropical coastlines. Twice in a 24-hour period the trees are partially flooded with seawater, while rivers deposit large quantities of mud. There are only a few types of trees that can survive here. These are adapted with breathing openings in their trunks and roots or salt glands in their leaves. Characteristic are the crooked air roots of the Rhizophora trees and the pointed breathing roots of the Avicennia species, which form some sort of 'bed of straw' in the mud. Burgers' Mangrove provides a realistic image of this biotope and houses the largest collection of mangrove plants in Europe.

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