Abatan River | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | Philippines |
Region | Central Visayas |
Province | Bohol |
Physical characteristics | |
Mouth | Maribojoc Bay (Cebu Strait) |
• location | Cortes |
• coordinates | 9°42′50″N123°51′40″E / 9.71389°N 123.86111°E |
Basin size | 350 km2 (140 sq mi) [1] |
The Abatan River is a river in western Bohol, Philippines. The river winds through the towns of Catigbian, Antequera, Balilihan, and Maribojoc to its mouth at Cortes. [2]
The river is navigable for up to 19 kilometres (12 mi) for boats drawing 4 ft, and up to 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) for rafts. [3] Its name comes from the word abad which means to meet or to converge. [4]
At its mouth, the river opens up to an estuary, which consists of a mixed mangrove and nipa swamp. It covers about 1,000 acres (400 ha) and has 32 mangrove species growing in its estuary; as a result, it is one of the Philippines' most diverse mangrove forests and is the third largest riverine mangrove forest in Bohol; despite the presence of endangered plant and animal species, there are no conservation or protection efforts. [5] [6] [7]
Historically prior to road construction, the river served as a waterway for the people going to and from the interior towns. Following the success of the Loboc River tours, there are river cruises from the Abatan River Visitor Center in Cortes to various communities upstream. Kayak exploration and stand-up paddle boarding are also available. [2] The visitor center suffered severe damage from the 2013 Bohol earthquake. [6]
During World War II, a ship in the United States Navy was commissioned: USS Abatan (AW-4), a Pasig-class distilling ship, was named after the river. [8]
The river basin is home to 273 plant species and 67 species of wild animals, as well as 8 species of fireflies, including Pteroptyx macdermotti which is very rare and endemic to the Philippines. The mangrove species Camptostemon philippinense (locally known as Gapas-gapas) is globally endangered and the rarest mangrove species in the Philippines. [5] [6]
The Abatan River estuary is home to the following true mangrove species (with local names in parentheses): [5]
Animal varieties include mudskippers, rats, fruit bats like the Large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus), lizards like the mangrove skink (Emoia atrocostata) and water monitor (Varanus salvator), as well as ants, spiders and fiddler crabs. Snake species include the King cobra (Ophiophagus hannah), which is locally known as Banakon, Samar cobra (Naja samarensis), locally known as Ugahipon, and the Philippine whipsnake, locally known as Hanlulukay (Dryophiops philippina). [5] A new species of shipworm ( Lithoredo abatanicus ) was identified in the river in June 2019, locally known as Antingaw. [9]
Other significant rivers in Bohol:
The Rhizophoraceae is a family of tropical or subtropical flowering plants. It includes around 147 species distributed in 15 genera. Under the family, there are three tribes, Rhizophoreae, Gynotrocheae, and Macarisieae. Even though Rhizophoraceae is known for its mangrove members, only the genera under Rhizophoreae grow in the mangrove habitats and the remaining members live in inland forests.
Meru Betiri National Park is a national park in the province of East Java, Indonesia, extending over an area of 580 km2 of which a small part is marine (8.45 km2). The beaches of the park provide nesting grounds for endangered turtle species such as leatherback turtles, hawksbill turtles, green turtles, and olive ridley turtles.
Sundarbans is a mangrove area in the delta formed by the confluence of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. Spread across parts of India and Bangladesh, this forest is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It spans the area from the Baleswar River in Bangladesh's division of Khulna to the Hooghly River in India's state of West Bengal. It comprises closed and open mangrove forests, land used for agricultural purpose, mudflats and barren land, and is intersected by multiple tidal streams and channels. Sundarbans is home to the world's largest area of mangrove forests. Four protected areas in the Sundarbans are enlisted as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, viz. Sundarbans West (Bangladesh), Sundarbans South (Bangladesh), Sundarbans East (Bangladesh) and Sundarbans National Park (India).
Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary is an estuary situated near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, India. It is the third largest stretch of mangrove forests in India with 24 mangrove tree species and more than 120 bird species. It is home to the critically endangered white-backed vulture and the long billed vulture. Mangroves are a group of trees and shrubs that live in the coastal intertidal zone, with a dense tangle of prop roots that make the trees appear to be standing on stilts above the water. This tangle of roots allows the trees to handle the daily rise and fall of tides; hence, the mangrove forest gets flooded at least twice per day. The roots also slow the movement of tidal waters, causing sediments to settle out of the water and build up the muddy bottom.
The New Guinea mangroves is a mangrove ecoregion that covers extensive areas of the coastline New Guinea, the large island in the western Pacific Ocean north of Australia.
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Madagascar mangroves are a coastal ecoregion in the mangrove forest biome found on the west coast of Madagascar. They are included in the WWF's Global 200 list of most outstanding ecoregions.
The Southern Africa mangroves are mangrove ecoregion on the Mozambique's southernmost coast and the eastern coast of South Africa.
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The Sunda Shelf mangroves ecoregion, in the mangrove biome, are on the coasts of the islands of Borneo and eastern Sumatra in Malaysia and Indonesia. They are home to the proboscis monkey.
The Ngezi Forest Reserve is a forest reserve located in the Micheweni District of the North Pemba Region on Pemba Island, Tanzania. It covers an area of 1,440 hectares, mostly comprising primary forest. The reserve was established in 1959.
Nypa fruticans, commonly known as the nipa palm or mangrove palm, is a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuarine habitats of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm considered adapted to the mangrove biome. The genus Nypa and the subfamily Nypoideae are monotypic taxa because this species is their only member.
Rhizophora mucronata is a species of mangrove found on coasts and river banks in East Africa and the Indo-Pacific region.
The Agoo–Damortis Protected Landscape and Seascape is located on the eastern side of Lingayen Gulf in southern La Union, Philippines. It was established in 2000 to protect 10,648.94 hectares of coastal area, including mangrove swamps, seagrass beds and stretches of fine black sand beaches. It was first gazetted as a national park in 1965 and was known as the Agoo–Damortis National Seashore Park. It covers approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) of the coastline of Lingayen Gulf shared between the municipalities of Agoo, Santo Tomas and Rosario.
Rhizophora racemosa is a species of mangrove tree in the family Rhizophoraceae. It has a patchy distribution on the Pacific coast of Central and South America, occurs in places on the Atlantic coast of that continent, and has a more widespread range on the Atlantic coast of West Africa.
The Esmeraldas-Pacific Colombia mangroves (NT1409) is an ecoregion of mangrove forests along the Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador. It is threatened by human population growth, leading to over-exploitation for wood and clearance for farming and aquaculture.
Muara Angke mangrove forest and wildlife sanctuary is a protected nature conservation area at Kapuk Muara, Penjaringan along the north coast of Jakarta, Indonesia. Muara Angke Wildlife Sanctuary is located at the end of Muara Karang Raya street, near Mediterranean Gallery shopping complex.
The Inabanga River is the largest river in Bohol, Philippines. It is 25 kilometres (16 mi) long and up to 7 to 10 metres deep at its mouth at the town of Inabanga.
The Sulu Archipelago rain forests ecoregion covers the Sulu Archipelago, excepting Basilan Island at the northern end, in the southwest of the Philippines. The islands are separated enough from Borneo to the south and Mindanao to the north that they have developed their own distinctive floral and faunal communities. Most of the original rainforest has been removed or disturbed for agriculture, and political instability in the islands has hampered conservation efforts.
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