Mangrove Propagule Tidal Dispersal

Mangrove trees release fully germinated, buoyant propagules that float away on the tide rather than falling straight to the ground. This simulation models a cohort of propagules on a tidal creek surface: a sinusoidal flood/ebb current advects them back and forth, a drag-relaxation term controls how tightly each one tracks the water versus drifting on its own inertia, and the local water depth — shallowest near the banks and modulated by the rising and falling tide — determines when a propagule is close enough to exposed root fringe to be mechanically captured and strand. Adjust the current amplitude, tidal period, drag response time and root-capture density to see how each factor shifts the balance between propagules that establish nearby and those exported far down-estuary.