Water quality in the inshore Great Barrier Reef lagoon: Implications for long-term monitoring and management

Schaffelke, Britta; Carleton, John; Skuza, Michele; Zagorskis, Irena; Furnas, Miles

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.10.031

Cited by 127 publications

(144 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

122

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Water quality analyses-Analytical protocols for Chl a and nutrients are fully described in Schaffelke et al (2011). Briefly, dissolved inorganic nutrient concentrations (Si,NH 4 , NO 2 , NO 3 , and PO 4 ), DON, and dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) were determined from frozen samples by segmented flow analysis using standard automated techniques.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pelagic metabolism in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef

McKinnon

Logan

Castine

et al. 2013

Limnology & Oceanography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pelagic metabolism (community respiration [CR] and net community production [NCP] . Peaks in area-specific NCP were associated with floods, intrusions of nutrient-rich sub-thermocline Coral Sea water, and localized phytoplankton blooms but otherwise showed few seasonal or spatial trends. Overall, CR in GBR lagoon waters was comparable to rates in oligotrophic oceanic waters, but NCP was more typical of shelf systems.The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is an iconic marine ecosystem 2300 km in length and up to 330 km in width, extending over 15u of latitude (9-24uS). All reefs south of Cape York (10u429S) are contained within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP), which includes approximately 3700 individual coral reefs (Hopley et al. 2007). Most reefs are located some distance from shore, and the body of water separating the reef matrix from the mainland is locally referred to as the GBR ''lagoon.'' Approximately 90% of the shelf area within the GBRMP (238,700 km 2 ) is comprised of this lagoonal habitat. The GBRMP provides a global reference point for coral reef ecosystems facing threats from the combined effects of terrestrial runoff, overfishing, plagues of pest species such as Crown of Thorns (Acanthaster planci) starfish, and climate change (e.g., coral bleaching). However, inter-reefal and pelagic ecosystems of the GBRMP have received little scientific attention compared to the coral reefs themselves and pelagic process studies have largely focused on the central GBR (16-19uS; Furnas et al. 2005).The GBR lagoon is bordered on the west by low-energy, mangrove-dominated ecosystems with turbid and chlorophyll-rich waters, and to the east it adjoins the matrix of mid-and outer-lagoon reefs perfused by clear oligotrophic waters originating from the Coral Sea. Overall, 73% of the volume of water within the GBRMP to the 150 m isobath is contained in depths of 40 m or less, and in most cases light can penetrate throughout the water column. In the central GBR coastal water moves north via wind-forced currents, but in the mid-and outer-lagoon movement is southward as a result of forcing by the East Australian Current. Southeast trade winds force surface waters onshore, suppressing upwelling on the outer margin of the GBR, but during the northwest monsoon these winds relax and episodic upwelling can occur. Patterns of water circulation in the GBR lagoon are complex and remain poorly understood. On the basis of radium isotope distribution, Hancock et al. (2006) estimated that waters within 20 km of the coast were flushed on timescales of 18-45 d. The numerical models of Luick et al. (2007) predicted flushing times for the GBR lagoon between 1 month and 1 yr, but the drifter studies of Choukroun et al. (2010) suggested this may be less than a month. More than 60% of regional rainfall occurs between the period January and March and is discharged to the coastal waters of the GBR lagoon by river flow. The largest river is the Burdekin River, which has a mean annual flow of 9.7 3 10 9 m 3 , followed by the Normanby ...

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chl a, PN, particulate phosphorus (PP), particulate organic carbon (PC), and total suspended solids (TSS) were determined as described by Schaffelke et al (2011).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pelagic metabolism in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef

McKinnon

Logan

Castine

et al. 2013

Limnology & Oceanography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Surface waters in the Camden Sound/Collier Bay region were overall oligotrophic, with low (to undetectable) nitrogen concentrations (as NO x and NH 4 ); typical of other tropical inshore locations during the dry season, e.g., the GBR system on the east coast of Australia that is at a similar latitude (Furnas et al, 2005;Schaffelke et al, 2012;McKinnon et al, 2013) and the tropical coastal waters of Java, Indonesia (Jennerjahn et al, 2004). However, at stations within and adjacent to Collier Bay, relatively higher concentrations of NO x were observed compared to the rest of the study region.…”

Section: Nutrient Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biophysical characteristics of a morphologically-complex macrotidal tropical coastal system during a dry season

Jones

Patten

Krikke

et al. 2014

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The MMP was established in 2005 to help assess the long-term status and health of GBR ecosystems, focusing on seagrass meadows and coral reefs. The current program includes the monitoring of ambient [69] and wet season [70] water quality and of seagrass [71] and coral reef [72] conditions.…”

Section: Environmental Data: the Marine Monitoring Program (Mmp)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating the Exposure of Coral Reefs and Seagrass Meadows to Land-Sourced Contaminants in River Flood Plumes of the Great Barrier Reef: Validating a Simple Satellite Risk Framework with Environmental Data

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

River runoff and associated flood plumes (hereafter river plumes) are a major source of land-sourced contaminants to the marine environment, and are a significant threat to coastal and marine ecosystems worldwide. Remote sensing monitoring products have been developed to map the spatial extent, composition and frequency of occurrence of river plumes in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. There is, however, a need to incorporate these monitoring products into Risk Assessment Frameworks as management decision tools. A simple Satellite Risk Framework has been recently proposed to generate maps of potential risk to seagrass and coral reef ecosystems in the GBR focusing on the Austral tropical wet season. This framework was based on a "magnitudeˆlikelihood" risk management approach and GBR plume water types mapped from satellite imagery. The GBR plume water types (so called "Primary" for the inshore plume waters, "Secondary" for the midshelf-plume waters and "Tertiary" for the offshore plume waters) represent distinct concentrations and combinations of land-sourced and marine contaminants. The current study aimed to test and refine the methods of the Satellite Risk Framework. It compared predicted pollutant concentrations in plume water types (multi-annual average from 2005-2014) to published ecological thresholds, and combined this information with similarly long-term measures of seagrass and coral ecosystem health. The Satellite Risk Framework and newly-introduced multi-annual risk scores were successful in demonstrating where water conditions were, on average, correlated to adverse biological responses. Seagrass meadow abundance (multi-annual change in % cover) was negatively correlated to the multi-annual risk score at the site level (R 2 = 0.47, p < 0.05). Relationships between multi-annual risk scores and multi-annual changes in proportional macroalgae cover (as an index for coral reef health) were more complex (R 2 = 0.04, p > 0.05), though reefs incurring higher risk scores showed relatively higher proportional macroalgae cover. Multi-annual risk score thresholds associated with loss of seagrass cover were defined, with lower risk scores (ď0.2) associated with a gain or little loss in seagrass cover (gain/´12%), medium risk scores (0.2-0.4) associated with moderate loss (´12/´30%) and higher risk scores (>0.4) with the greatest loss in cover (>´30%). These thresholds were used to generate an intermediate river plume risk map specifically for seagrass meadows of the GBR. An intermediate river plume risk map for coral reefs was also developed by considering a multi-annual risk score threshold of 0.2-above which a higher proportion of macroalgae within the algal communities can be expected. These findings contribute to a long-term and adaptive approach to set relevant risk framework and thresholds for adverse biological responses in the GBR. The ecological thresholds and risk scores used in this study will be refined and validated through ongoing monitoring and assessment. As uncertainties are red...

show abstract

Water quality in the inshore Great Barrier Reef lagoon: Implications for long-term monitoring and management

Cited by 127 publications

References 47 publications

Pelagic metabolism in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef

Pelagic metabolism in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef

Biophysical characteristics of a morphologically-complex macrotidal tropical coastal system during a dry season

Estimating the Exposure of Coral Reefs and Seagrass Meadows to Land-Sourced Contaminants in River Flood Plumes of the Great Barrier Reef: Validating a Simple Satellite Risk Framework with Environmental Data

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About