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Focusing management needs at the sub-catchment level via assessments of change in the cover of estuarine vegetation, Port Hacking, NSW, Australia

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Abstract

Aerial photographs from 1930 to 1999 were used to assess change in the distribution of seagrass, mangrove and saltmarsh in Port Hacking, New South Wales. Initially stable at around 180 ha, the cover of seagrass declined to a minimum of 73 ha in 1977 and then increased to 82 ha in 1999. The area of mangrove increased in a linear fashion from 14 to 31 ha, while the area of saltmarsh progressively declined from 14 to 9 ha. To determine whether these trends occurred at a finer spatial scale, a set of geomorphic characteristics were used to divide the waterbody into nine zones. Seagrass and saltmarsh were continuously present in nine and three zones, respectively. Mangrove, present in only six zones from the 1930s to the 1950s, appeared in a seventh zone in 1975. The most dramatic change in cover took place at Cabbage Tree Basin, with a 13-fold reduction in area of seagrass, halving of saltmarsh and a five-fold increase in mangrove. Within the Hacking River there was a four-fold reduction in seagrass and a 50% increase in mangrove. Change was modest at the other seven zones. A range of natural and anthropogenic factors appear to have had an influence on distribution. Cover of seagrass on exposed shoals varied naturally due to storm waves, but modifications to the substrata such as shellgrit mining, dredging and reclamation directly destroyed seagrass. Increased density of human population, which would have enhanced erosion and the amount of stormwater discharge, in turn increasing sedimentation and turbidity, may have had a detrimental impact on seagrass. Newly deposited sediments may have created a new substratum for mangrove trees. Some loss of saltmarsh has been caused by the upslope expansion of mangrove, although the reason for such migration is not certain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NSW Fisheries, P.O. Box 21, 2230, Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia

    R. J. Williams

  2. Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, 2522, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

    A. J. Meehan

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  1. R. J. Williams
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  2. A. J. Meehan
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Correspondence to R. J. Williams.

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Williams, R.J., Meehan, A.J. Focusing management needs at the sub-catchment level via assessments of change in the cover of estuarine vegetation, Port Hacking, NSW, Australia. Wetlands Ecol Manage 12, 499–518 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-005-3948-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-005-3948-y

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