Rasheed, Michael, Hoffmann, Luke, Reason, Carissa, and McKenna, Skye (2020) Port of Weipa long-term seagrass monitoring program, 2000-2019. Report. TropWATER, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

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Abstract

• Monitoring in 2019 found seagrasses in the Port of Weipa were in good condition.

- All monitoring meadows were in good or very good condition for all three indicators measured; biomass, area and species composition.

- Total area of seagrass meadows in the region closest to the port (Intensive Monitoring Area (IMA)) was above the long term average for the four consecutive year.

• The Weipa region experienced an extreme wet season in 2018/2019 with three tropical cyclones between December 2018 and March 2019. This lead to an extended period of low light in the seagrass meadows, 48 consecutive days were recorded with light levels below the 5 mol m-2 day-1 threshold.

• Seagrass meadows did not suffer any dramatic or sustained impacts from the wet season storm and flooding events, due to their high level of resilience leading into the 2018/2019 wet season and the return of higher light conditions following the wet season for the remainder of the year.

• Seagrass light requirements were maintained in the monitoring meadows throughout the extended 2019 maintenance dredging activities despite 3-4 times the normal annual sediment load dredged as a result of the extreme wet season.

Item ID:	80010
Item Type:	Report (Report)
Related URLs:	Publisher
Copyright Information:	© James Cook University, 2020.
Date Deposited:	29 Aug 2023 02:10
FoR Codes:	41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410402 Environmental assessment and monitoring @ 100%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180201 Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems @ 100%
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