Coastal Wetland Restoration: Case Studies from Great Barrier Reef Catchments

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) stretches several hundred kilometres along the Queensland coast, Australia. Landward of the reef is a dynamic and functionally important coastal wetland ecosystem that provides a range of marine habitat settings, including mangroves, saltmarshes, freshwater floodplains, rivers, and creeks that together support essential services for many aquatic species. Expansion of agricultural, urban, and industrial development has replaced or modified the coastal wetland mosaic, leaving the remaining wetlands not only exposed to poor water quality, invasive species, and habitat destruction but also disconnected from downstream parts of the seascape. Because of their connections among systems, there has been considerable interest and investment to restore these ecosystems. Although these efforts are sensible initatives based on contemporary knowledge, success is often not reached, and systems return to a degraded state. This chapter reviews several coastal wetland restoration projects and in this way, outlines both the logic of design results and what has been learned. It also highlights the need to adopt a whole-of-ecosystem approach to ensure that the components and processes are considered and incorporated in planning. Finally, the need is outlined for increased coordination among restoration practitioners, funding agencies, appropriate (no-gap) funding, and large-scale action to maximise the protection and restoration of GBR coastal wetland ecosystems.

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Oceanographic Processes of Coral Reefs

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978-1-003-32042-5

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