Blue Carbon stocks of Great Barrier Reef deep-water seagrasses

Vulnerability of seagrasses in the Great Barrier Reef to climate change

GREAT NEWS FOR THE GREAT BARRIER REEF: TULLY RIVER WATER QUALITY by Robert M. Carter GREAT NEWS FOR THE GREAT BARRIER REEF: TULLY RIVER WATER QUALITY

A prerequisite for meaningful environmental legislation is that it be based upon an adequate scientific understanding of the natural system to which it is applied. In 2003, the Australian Commonwealth and Queensland State governments introduced a Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, which aimed to “improve” water quality in river catchments adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and in nearby ...

Predators help protect carbon stocks in blue carbon ecosystems

NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE | VOL 5 | DECEMBER 2015 | www.nature.com/natureclimatechange Climate change is an urgent societal issue that can be addressed by a combination of reduced emissions and climate mitigation strategies, including those based on natural carbon (C) stores (that is, biosequestration). The need to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations combined with global interest in C trading and...

Coral Reefs on the Edge? Carbon Chemistry on Inshore Reefs of the Great Barrier Reef

While increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration alters global water chemistry (Ocean Acidification; OA), the degree of changes vary on local and regional spatial scales. Inshore fringing coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) are subjected to a variety of local pressures, and some sites may already be marginal habitats for corals. The spatial and temporal variation in direc...

Towards environmental management of water turbidity within open coastal waters of the Great Barrier Reef.

Water turbidity and suspended sediment concentration (SSC) are commonly used as part of marine monitoring and water quality plans. Current management plans utilise threshold SSC values derived from mean-annual turbidity concentrations. Little published work documents typical ranges of turbidity for reefs within open coastal waters. Here, time-series turbidity measurements from 61 sites in the G...