The 2019 Philippine mangrove extent was mapped using a new Mangrove Vegetation Index (MVI). The extent map was generated from Sentinel-2 imagery using Google Earth Engine-based MVI Mapper with a spatial resolution of 10 m. The total mangrove extent is 227,808 ha for the year 2019.
Source: Baloloy et al. (2020)
The largest remaining mangrove areas are located in Palawan and Quezon in Luzon, Samar provinces in the Visayas, and Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Surigao del Norte and Sulu provinces in Mindanao (Long and Giri, 2011). The Philippines has high mangrove diversity (35-40 species) and may have been a recipient of active species exchanges within the Indo-Malay Philippines Archipelago (IMPA) pathways. High species richness (> 30 species) can be found in the northern Philippine Sea and the Visayan Seas. Most of these species can be found in the entire archipelago, although, some species have a more restricted distribution. These species have restricted and oftentimes disjunct distribution.
High species richness (≥ 30 species) are in regions 2, 4a, 5, 6, 7 and 10 (referred to as the northern Philippine sea and the Visayan Seas). Lowest species richness can be observed in Regions 13 and ARMM with < 20 species (Sulu Sea). The center of mangrove biodiversity in the Philippines is in Regions 4, 5, 6 and 7 (southern Luzon to central Philippines), then tend to decline as it moves northward and southward. There seems to be a west-to-east pattern as well (Fortes and Salmo, 2015)
Source: Long and Giri (2011)
Species that are commonly found in the entire country (> 90% occurrence out of 15 regions) are Aegiceras corniculatum, Avicennia marina, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Ceriops tagal, Excoecaria agallocha, Lumnitzera littorea, L. racemosa, Nypa fruticans, Rhizophora apiculata, R. mucronata, R. stylosa, Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea, Sonneratia alba, S. caseolaris and Xylocarpus granatum. Of these, seven species are present in all regions, namely: A. marina, L. racemosa, N. fruticans, R. apiculata, R. mucronata, S. alba and Xylocarpus granatum. Species with < 50% occurrences across regions are: Acanthus volubilis, Acrostichum speciosum, A. lanata, B. parviflora, Camptostemon philippinense, Kandelia candel, Pemphis acidula and S. ovata.
Source: Fortes and Salmo (2015)
Mangrove Ecology 