Monitoring the sea change: Preliminary assessment of the conservation value of nearshore reefs, and existing impacts, in a high-growth, coastal region of subtropical eastern Australia

In northern NSW, Australia, coastal populations are forecast to increase dramatically over the next 25years (the “sea change”). However, management of the effects of development on marine communities is hampered by the lack of data on key habitats. Consequently, we developed a protocol to assess the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin Vol. 56; no. 3; pp. 525 - 534
Main Authors: Smith, Stephen D.A., Rule, Michael J., Harrison, Matthew, Dalton, Steven J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2008
Elsevier
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Applied ecology
Australia
Biological and medical sciences
Conservation of Natural Resources
Ecosystem
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Fish
Fishes
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Geography
Human impact
Humans
Invertebrates
Marine and brackish environment
Marine Biology
Marine debris
Mollusca
Mollusca - drug effects
Mollusca - growth & development
Molluscs
Population Density
Risk Assessment
Sampling protocol
Seawater
Shallow reef
Thoracica - drug effects
Thoracica - growth & development
Australia
ISEW, Australia, Northern Terr
PSE, Australia
Human impact
Sampling protocol
Fish
Molluscs
Marine debris
Shallow reef
Human
Growth
Conservation
Coastal zone
Marine environment
Aquatic environment
Vertebrata
Reef
Surveillance
Pisces
Water pollution
Invertebrata
Debris
Sampling
Mollusca
ISSN:0025-326X, 1879-3363
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In northern NSW, Australia, coastal populations are forecast to increase dramatically over the next 25years (the “sea change”). However, management of the effects of development on marine communities is hampered by the lack of data on key habitats. Consequently, we developed a protocol to assess the biodiversity and current human impacts on nearshore reefs, habitats that will be readily affected by coastal development. We assessed four reefs adjacent to each of three population centres targeting fish, mollusc and sessile benthic communities, and debris loads. Community structure was highly variable over all spatial scales indicating that reefs should not be considered equivalent within the planning framework. While, debris loads were relatively low on most reefs, those with highest conservation value also had the highest debris loads suggesting potential conflict between human use and long-term sustainability of reefal communities. Without intervention, this situation will be exacerbated in the future.
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ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.11.016