Land use change in the river basins of the Great Barrier Reef, 1860 to 2019: a foundation for understanding environmental history across the catchment to reef continuum
Lewis, Stephen E., Bartley, Rebecca, Wilkinson, Scott, Bainbridge, Zoe T., Kinsey-Henderson, Anne, James, Cassandra S., Irvine, Scott A., and Brodie, Jon E. (2021) Land use change in the river basins of the Great Barrier Reef, 1860 to 2019: a foundation for understanding environmental history across the catchment to reef continuum. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 166. p. 112193.
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Abstract
Land use in the catchments draining to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon has changed considerably since the introduction of livestock grazing, various crops, mining and urban development. Together these changes have resulted in increased pollutant loads and impaired coastal water quality. This study compiled records to produce annual time-series since 1860 of human population, livestock numbers and agricultural areas at the scale of surface drainage river basins, natural resource management regions and the whole Great Barrier Reef catchment area. Cattle and several crops have experienced progressive expansion interspersed by declines associated with droughts and diseases. Land uses which have experienced all time maxima since the year 2000 include cattle numbers and the areas of sugar cane, bananas and cotton. A Burdekin Basin case study shows that sediment loads initially increased with the introduction of livestock and mining, remained elevated with agricultural development, and declined slightly with the Burdekin Falls Dam construction.
Item ID: | 71366 |
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Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
ISSN: | 1879-3363 |
Keywords: | Population, Sugar cane, Bananas, Crops, Cattle, Sheep |
Copyright Information: | © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license. |
Date Deposited: | 24 Jan 2022 21:19 |
FoR Codes: | 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4105 Pollution and contamination > 410504 Surface water quality processes and contaminated sediment assessment @ 20% 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3002 Agriculture, land and farm management > 300202 Agricultural land management @ 10% 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3002 Agriculture, land and farm management > 300206 Agricultural spatial analysis and modelling @ 70% |
SEO Codes: | 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1806 Terrestrial systems and management > 180601 Assessment and management of terrestrial ecosystems @ 100% |
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