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Corals are two-layered invertebrates that live in groups (i.e. they are colonial) and are related to jellyfish and sea anemones. Corals are made up of tiny individuals called polyps. Each polyp is like a fluid-filled bag with a ring of tentacles surrounding its mouth, and looks like a tiny anemone. Polyps within a colony are linked by living tissues and can share their food (Allen & Steene, 1994). In some corals, the polyp extracts calcium carbonate from the sea and secretes it as a cup of calcium carbonate from the bottom half of its body. These cups provide anchorage for the polyps but when threatened, the polyp can retreat into the safety of the hard cup. When the calcium carbonate cups of many billions of these polyps fuse together, they form coral reefs (Veron, 2000).

A mangrove is a woody plant or plant community which lives between the sea and the land, in areas which are flooded by tides for part of the time. Mangroves make up one of the world's most unique ecosystems because they thrive where no other trees can survive - in the transition zone between the ocean and land. They are also among the world's most productive ecosystems.