Abstract
The study investigated the use of aerial photographs, acquired in 1950 and1991, for assessing the temporal dynamics of mangroves along the WestAlligator River in Australia's Northern Territory. For both years,mangrove extent was mapped using an unsupervised classification of thedigital orthomosaic and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), or height maps,of the mangrove canopy were derived from stereo pairs. Helicopter andfield observations in 1998 and 1999 respectively provided ground truthfor interpreting the derived datasets. The comparison of mangrove extentrevealed a substantial movement over the 41-year period, perhaps inresponse to hydrological changes that have resulted in a landward extensionof saline conditions. Changes in the height of mangroves were observedbut were difficult to quantify due to the reduced quality of the 1950 DEM. The study demonstrated the viability of using time-series of aerialphotography for monitoring and understanding the long-term response ofmangroves to environmental change, including hydrological variations andsea level rise.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Avery, T.E. and Berlin, G.L. 1992. Fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Airphoto Interpretation. MacMillan, London, UK.
Ball, M.C. 1988. Organisation of mangrove forests along natural salinity gradients in the Northern Territory: An ecophysiological perspective. In: Marshall, D.W. and Loveday, P. (eds.), Northern Australia: Progress and Prospects, Vol. 2. Flood-plains Research. NARU Monograph, North Australian Research Unit, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Australia.
Ball, M. 1998. Mangrove species richness in relation to salinity and waterlogging: A case study along the Adelaide River floodplain, northern Australia. Global Ecol. Biogeogr. Letts. 7: 73–82.
Bandaranayake, W.M. 1994. Phyto-chemical constituents and pigments in mangrove species and mangal associates of Northern Australia. Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Report 19, 1–21, AIMS, Townsville, Australia.
Bayliss, B., Brennan, K., Eliot, I., Finlayson, M., Hall, R., House, T., Pidgeon, B., Walden, D. and Waterman, P. 1997. Vulnerability assessment of predicted climate change and sea level rise in the Alligator River Region, N.T., Australia. Supervising Scientist Report, 123, Supervising Scientist, Environment Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Blasco, F., Saenger, P. and Janodet, E. 1996. Mangroves as indicators of coastal change. Catena 27: 167–178.
Blasco, F., Gauquelin, T., Rasolofoharinoro, M., Denis, J., Aizpuru, M. and Caldairou, V. 1998. Recent advances in mangrove studies using remote sensing data. J. Mar. Freshw. Res. 49: 287–296.
Brennan, K. 1996. An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of the Alligator Rivers Regions, NT, Australia. Supervising Scientist Report, 109, Supervising Scientist, Environment Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Bureau of Meteorology 1999. Hydrometeorological analyses relevant to Jabiluka. Supervising Scientist Report, 140, Supervising Scientist, Environment Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Bunt, J.S. 1996. Mangrove zonation: An examination of data from seventeen riverine estuaries in tropical Australia. Ann. Bot. 78: 333–341.
Cobb, S.M., Saynor, M.J., Eliot, I. and Hall, R. 2000. Saltwater intrusion in the Alligator Rivers Region, northern Australia. In: Eliot, I., Saynor, M., Eliot, M. and Finlayson, C.M. (eds.), Assessment and Monitoring of Coastal Change in the Alligators Rivers Region, Northern Australia, pp. 118–131. Supervising Scientist Report, 157, Supervising Scientist, Environment Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Danaher, K. and Luck, P. 1991. Mapping mangrove communities using Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery. In: Networking for Sustainability: Proceedings of the Conference on Remote Sensing and GIS for Coastal Catchment Management, pp. 243–248. Centre for Coastal Management, University of Lismore, NSW, Australia.
Davie, J.D.S. 1985. The mangrove vegetation of the South Alligator River, Northern Territory. In: Bardsley, K.N., Davie, J.D.S. and Woodroffe, C.D. (eds.), Coasts and Tidal Wetlands of the Australian Monsoon Region: A collection of papers presented at a conference held in Darwin. Mangrove Monograph, 1: 133–152. Australian National University, North Australia Research Unit, Darwin.
Duke, N.C., Ball, M. and Ellison, J.C. 1998. Factors influencing biodiversity and distributional gradients in mangroves. Global Ecol. Biogeogr. Letts. 7: 27–47.
Eliot I., Finlayson C.M. and Waterman P. 1999. Predicted climate change, sea level rise and wetland management in the Australian wet-dry tropics. Wetl. Ecol. Manag. 7: 63–81.
Ellison, A. and Farnsworth, E. 1997. Simulated sea level change alters anatomy, physiology, growth and reproduction of red mangroves. Oecologica 112: 435–446.
Franks, T. and Falconer, R. 1999. Developing procedures for the sustainable use of mangrove systems. Agric. Water Manag. 40: 59–64.
Finlayson, C.M., Davidson, N.C., Spiers, A.G. and Stevenson, N.J. 1999. Global wetland inventory – current status and future priorities. Mars. Freshw. Res. 50: 717–27.
Finlayson, C.M. and Eliot, I. 2000. Assessment and monitoring of coastal wetlands in Australia's wet-dry tropics – a paradigm for elsewhere? Coastal Management (in press).
Hardisky, M.A., Gross, M.F. and Klemas, V. 1986. Remote Sensing of coastal wetlands. BioScience 36: 453–460.
Jenson, J.R., Lin, H., Yang, X-H. and Ramsey, E.W. 1991. The measurement of mangrove characteristics of southwest Florida using SPOT multispectral data. Geocarto Int. 2: 13–21.
Knighton, A.D., Woodroffe, C.D. and Mills, K. 1992. The evolution of tidal creek networks, Mary River, Northern Australia. Earth Surf. Proc. Land. 17: 167–190.
Lear, R. and Turner, T. 1994. Mangroves of Australia. University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, Australia.
Long, B.G. and Skewes, T.D. 1994. GIS and Remote Sensing improves mangrove mapping. In: Proceedings, 7th Australasian Remote Sensing Conference, Melbourne, Australia. pp. 545–550. Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Association, Australia.
Marconi Integrated Systems Inc. 1998. Socet Set User's Manual, LH Systems. San Diego, USA.
Messel, H., Wells, A.G. and Green, W.J. 1979. Surveys of tidal river systems in the Northern Territory and their crocodile populations. Monograph 4: The Alligator Region River Systems. Permagon Press, NSW, Australia.
Monat, F.H., Mahin, G.G. and Lancaster, J. 1993. Remote sensing techniques in the analysis of change detection. Geocarto Int. 8: 39–50.
O'Grady, A.P., McGuinness, K.A. and Eamus, D. 1996. The abundance and growth of Avicennia marina and Rhozophora stylosa in the low shore zone of Darwin Harbour, Northern Territory. Aust. J. Ecol. 21: 272–279.
Primavera, J.H. 1997. Socio-economic impacts of shrimp culture. Aquaculture Res. 28: 815–827.
Proisy, C., Mougin, E., Fromard, F. and Karam, M.A. 2000. Interpretation of polarimetric radar signatures of mangrove forests. Rem. Sens. Env. 71: 56–66.
Ramirez-Garcia, P., Lopez-Blanco, J. and Ocana, D. 1998. Mangrove vegetation assessment in the Santiago River mouth, Mexico, by means of supervised classification using Landsat TM imagery. Forest Ecol. Manag. 105: 217–229.
Richards, J.A. 1993. Remote Sensing Digital Image Analysis, An Introduction. Springer-Verlag, London, UK.
Sader, S.A. 1987. Airborne Remote Sensing of Forest Biomes. Geocarto Int. 1: 9–10.
Saenger, P.E. 1994. Mangroves and Saltmarshes. In: Hammond, L. and Synnot, R.N. (eds.), Marine Biology. Addison Wesley Longman, Australia.
Saintilan, N. 1998. Relationships between height and girth of mangroves and soil-water conditions in the Mary and Hawkesbury River estuaries, eastern Australia. Aust. J. Ecol. 23: 322–328.
Saynor, M.J. 2000. Coastal Change and Shoreline movement in the Alligator Rivers Region. In: Eliot, I., Saynor, M.J. and Finlayson, C. M. (eds.), Assessment and Monitoring of Coastal Change in the Alligator Rivers Region, pp. 110–117, Northern Australia Supervising Scientist Report, Supervising Scientist, Environment Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Semeniuk, V. 1985. Mangrove environments of Port Darwin, Northern Territory: The physical framework and habitats. J. Roy. Soc. West. Aust. 67: 81–97.
Slama C.C. 1980. Manual of Photogrammetry. 4th edn. American Society of Photogrammetry, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Smith, T.J. 1992. Forest structure. Tropical Mangrove Ecosystems. In: Robertson, A.I. and Alongi, D.M. (eds.), Coastal and Estuarine Studies, 41, American Geophysical Union, Washington DC, USA.
Storrs, M.J. and Finlayson, M. 1997. Overview of the Conservation Status of Wetlands of the Northern Territory. Supervising Scientist Report, 116, Supervising Scientist, Environment Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Tilley, N.F.Y. 1994. Interactive feature extraction as using softcopy photogrammetry. In: Proceedings: Mapping and Remote Sensing Tools for the 21st century. American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Woodroffe, C.D. 1995. Response of tide dominated mangrove shorelines in Northern Australia to anticipated sea-level rise. Earth Surf. Proc. Land. 20: 65–85.
Woodroffe, C.D. and Mulrennan, M.E. 1993. Geomorphology of the Lower Mary River Plains, Northern Territory, 152 pp. North Australia Research Unit, Darwin, Australia.
Woodroffe, C.D., Thom, B.G. and Chappell, J. 1985. Development of widespread mangroves swamps in mid-Holocene times in northern Australia. Nature 317: 711–713.
Zann, L.P. 1995. Our Sea, Our Future. Major Findings of the State of the Marine Environment Report for Australia. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville, Australia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lucas, R., Ellison, J., Mitchell, A. et al. Use of stereo aerial photography for quantifying changes in the extent and height of mangroves in tropical Australia. Wetlands Ecology and Management 10, 159–173 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016547214434
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016547214434