Duke, Norman C., Canning, Adam D., and Mackenzie, Jock R. (2024) More intense severe tropical cyclones in recent decades cause greater impacts on mangroves bordering Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. In: Wolanski, Eric, and Kingsford, Michael J., (eds.) Coral Reefs: Physical and Biological Links in the Great Barrier Reef. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, pp. 226-253.

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Abstract

A number of published articles about the environmental impacts of climate change indicate that mangrove habitats are prone to greater damage from increasingly more intense tropical cyclones in recent decades. We reviewed such concerns by investigating the impacts of severe tropical cyclones (STCs) on shoreline mangroves bordering Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Specifically, we considered the STCs having crossed the coastline during the last half century. There were 11 between 1987 and 2020. Available satellite data were used to quantify the extent and severity of damage to mangroves for each event, along with an appraisal of recovery. There were several significant findings. Firstly, we found that STC events had occurred widely across the GBR area from Torres Strait to the Tropic of Capricorn. Secondly, we observed notable increases in both the number and intensity of STCs. This was especially notable in the recent decade (2010-2019) with 7 in that decade, compared to the 0-2 per decade recorded earlier. This observation was significant because the damage to shoreline mangroves had increased markedly in unison with the increased intensity of recent STCs. We also observed some sites suffered repeated impacts from 2-3 STCs during the study period. These impacts were accumulative, further delaying and disrupting recovery. While natural recovery was shown to be efficient, the innate processes involved meant that it was linear taking set amounts of time. This situation presents natural resource managers with a well-known paradoxical dilemma of how to sustain natural ecosystems faced with unprecedented, ever-increasing external pressures? It seems the longer-term survival of mangrove ecosystems in the GBR area are becoming more dependent on adaptive management requiring threat minimisation whilst finding more effective ways to strengthen their resilience. In view of the rapidly changing environmental conditions, this study has demonstrated the considerable insights to be drawn from monitoring these valued coastal marine resources and one of the dominant driving processes.

Item ID:	82695
Item Type:	Book Chapter (Research - B1)
ISBN:	9781003320425
Keywords:	mangroves, cyclones, damage, impact, remote sensing, recovery, GBR
Related URLs:	Publisher
Copyright Information:	© 2024 selection and editorial matter, Eric Wolanski and Michael Kingsford; individual chapters, the contributors
Date Deposited:	11 Jun 2024 03:13
FoR Codes:	41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation > 410102 Ecological impacts of climate change and ecological adaptation @ 30% 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 40% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410402 Environmental assessment and monitoring @ 30%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180201 Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems @ 30% 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280111 Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences @ 30% 19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1904 Natural hazards > 190405 Meteorological hazards (e.g. cyclones and storms) @ 40%
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