1 1.10 Application of estuarine and coastal classifications in marine ...

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Government Department of Climate Change in order to support an initial vulnerability assessment for the whole of the Australian coastline, and to contribute to the development of marine ‘ecoregions’ or bioregional subregions. Before NISB, there was no consistently-classified habitat mapping of the entire Australian coastline, except at very broad scales that were not of practical use in a coastal vulnerability assessment. The NISB habitat classes include: mangroves, saltmarsh, seagrass, macroalgae, coral reef, rock-dominated, sediment-dominated and filter feeders (such as sponges). These habitats occur between the approximate position of the highest astronomical tide mark and the location of the outer limit of the photic benthic zone (usually at the 50 to 70 meter depth contour). High spatial resolution polygons with thematic attributes based on NISB are also available in Ozcoasts, together with national, state and regional summary maps for each habitat (Figure 5). The NISB Classification Scheme has been adopted as a standard by Sinclair Knight Mertz, one of Australia’s largest environmental consulting companies. In addition, it will be used by the CSIRO climate adaptation branch in the coastal version of their Impacts of Climate Change on Australian Marine Life studies (Hobday et al., 2006). Coastal environments can also be classified according to levels of physical disturbance from extreme storm events that mobilize and transport sediments across the shelf, a characteristic feature of many shelf ecosystems. Research has shown that storms and strong currents can cause widespread sediment erosion and deposition, some of which can bury or remove seagrasses and can cause extensive physical damage to coral reefs (Puotinen 2007). Harris (unpublished manuscript) proposes the development of a framework for classifying Australia’s continental shelf relative to disturbance based on a central tenet that biodiversity will be highest at intermediate levels of disturbance following Connell’s Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis. 20
Ecological theory predicts that the frequency and magnitude of disturbance can play a major role in controlling biodiversity (Connell 1978, Pickett and White 1985) and the distribution and quality of habitats, thus disturbance regime is an important spatial process of relevance to the management of marine environments. Research worldwide indicates that strategies such as MPA network design will need to consider the spatial impact and return frequencies of disturbances, as well as the biological response and recovery. Furthermore, with regard to habitat mapping, areas of high disturbance may require more frequent habitat mapping in order to maintain accuracy in the distribution of habitat types. 1.10.2.3.1 Characterization of Australia’s southwest coast In order to protect the biological diversity of marine life in Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as designated by the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999), regional marine plans and networks of representative marine protected areas were developed in both regional and commonwealth waters (Harris et al. 2007). In the absence of direct information about the distribution of biodiversity, appropriate surrogates were used instead to characterize environmental heterogeneity. To achieve this for the southwest coast EEZ (Southwest Planning Region), Geoscience Australia created maps of geomorphological features and of different seascape classes using a statistical classifier and then quantified the variety of features and seascapes to represent the spatial patterning of biophysical conditions across the region (Figure 6A). Geomorphological features were identified using a bathymetry map of 250 m spatial resolution based on features and terminology recognized by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). Seascapes were classified from data on water 21
Page 1 and 2: 1.10 Application of estuarine and c
Page 3 and 4: SYNOPSIS Coastal and marine classif
Page 5 and 6: government and non-governmental man
Page 7 and 8: paucity of species and habitat data
Page 9 and 10: and many sub-catastrophic disturban
Page 11 and 12: conservation practitioners, industr
Page 13 and 14: levels of the hierarchy are defined
Page 15 and 16: distributions, both within and surr
Page 17 and 18: In a hierarchical framework for the
Page 19: 1.10.2.3 Australian Coastal Classif
Page 23 and 24: outbreaks in the late 1970s (Green
Page 25 and 26: intertidal zones, and shallow coast
Page 27 and 28: 1.10.3.1 Identifying Priority Conse
Page 29 and 30: y the Massachusetts Oceans Act (200
Page 31 and 32: eight color coded zones to provide
Page 33 and 34: appropriate place to investigate fe
Page 35 and 36: 1.10.4.3 Massachusetts Ocean Plan T
Page 37 and 38: One of the foundational concepts un
Page 39 and 40: ecosystems has shown that considera
Page 41 and 42: In May 2004, Germany was the first
Page 43 and 44: improve the design and interpretati
Page 45 and 46: NOAA’s CoastWatch Change Analysis
Page 47 and 48: ground resolution of 30 m. Each cla
Page 49 and 50: also be used to assess the role of
Page 51 and 52: States (Gundlach and Hayes 1978). T
Page 53 and 54: information at the species level. I
Page 55 and 56: 1.10.8.4 Classifying and Mapping Hu
Page 57 and 58: map of the entire Australian shorel
Page 59 and 60: within 11 regions, leading to an ov
Page 61 and 62: enhancement of certain functions in
Page 63 and 64: achieved by identifying barriers to
Page 65 and 66: ecosystem service values extracted
Page 67 and 68: 1.10.12 FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND PRIOR
Page 69 and 70: 1.10.12.1 Linking Patterns and Proc
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approach. New classifications will
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Arundel, H. and Mount, R. 2007. Nat
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Connell, J. H. 1978. Diversity in t
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Duke. N.C., Meynecke, J.O., Dittman
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Green, A.L., C.E. Birkeland, R.H. R
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Hiddink, J. G., Jennings, S., Kaise
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Kostylev, V., Todd, B.J., Fader, G.
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Maxwell, D.L., Stelzenmüller, V.,
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Spatial and temporal patterns in fi
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Sharples, C. 2006. Indicative Mappi
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Wells, S., Ravilous, C., Corcoran,
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FIGURE LEGENDS Figure 1. A) Classes
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Figure 10. Ecological evaluation in
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Figure 21. Combining 'intolerance'
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selected planning units in gray ins
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Box 2. Classifications as thematic
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Figure 1. 1
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Figure 3. 3
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Figure 5. 5
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Figure 7. 7
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Figure 9. 9
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Figure 11. 11
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Figure 13. 13
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Figure 15. Fishing effort (hrs/day)
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Figure 17. 17
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Figure 19. 100% Conversion. 80% 60%
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Figure 21. 21
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Figure 23. 23
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Figure 25. 25
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Figure 27. 27
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Figure 29. 29
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Figure 31. 31
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Figure 33. 33
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