The woods in the Sueste Bay, on Fernando de Noronha, are the only mangrove forest on an oceanic island in the South Atlantic. This forest seems to have arisen around two thousand years ago. Though it has been monitored for the last three years by a project that brings together three universities in the state of Pernambuco (the University of Pernambuco (UPE), the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) and the Rural Federal University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), one mystery remains: how did the Laguncularia racemosa white mangrove tree, found in Africa and in Brazil, get there? It probably hitched a ride on the Southern Equatorial current which links the two continents.
Clemente Coelho Junior
University of Pernambuco
