Mangroves discovered on Korean shores, signaling warming climate

“On the windswept southern coast of Jeju Island, scientists have discovered a visitor that was never supposed to be there: a woody mangrove species previously unknown to the Korean Peninsula. The discovery of the plant, Myoporum bontioides (tentatively named the "beach paulownia"), was announced Tuesday by the Jeju World Heritage Office and Jeju National University. While the peninsula’s warming waters have long brought subtropical fish and seaweed to its shores, the arrival of a woody tree species marks a significant and visible escalation in the regional impact of climate change. Typically found in the sweltering coastal zones of Vietnam, Taiwan and southern Japan, the mangrove appears to have traveled north as a hitchhiker on ocean currents. Researchers estimate that the plants have been growing on Jeju for at least seven years, surviving long enough to reach maturity and flower. The appearance of mangroves in Korea is more than a botanical curiosity. It is a preview of a shifting ecosystem. These plants are the primary architects of "blue carbon" sinks, coastal ecosystems that can

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