Deterioration of coastal marine and estuarine habitats is inevitable in areas where human development is active. This is particularly the case in New South Wales (and throughout Australia) where a very large proportion of the population live on the edges of the coast-line. To sustain biodiversity and to maintain ecological processes and functions (for its own sake or for anthropocentric, human reasons), it will be necessary, for a very long time, to recreate, rebuild or repair habitats (Programme 3: Restoration of Disturbed Coastal Habitats). The science of restoration of coastal habitats is virtually unknown, and there is no sensible theory or understanding of how to create habitat that develops ecological function and maintains natural biodiversity. The biodiversity of animals and plants on rocky shores and in subtidal kelp-beds is vast, complex and variable in space and time. It is very different on many artificial hard surfaces (pilings, sea-walls, etc.) from that on natural rocky shores. As a result, it is necessary to find ways to change the construction of these essential infrastructural developments to enhance their capacity to provide suitable habitat for the natural fauna and flora of our coast-line. The Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities (EICC) has generated many scientific papers and theses from research projects on the restoration of intertidal and subtidal habitats. The link to the URL provided in this record provides a link to this research.

Deterioration of coastal marine and estuarine habitats is inevitable in areas where human development is active. This is particularly the case in New South Wales (and throughout Australia) where a very large proportion of the population live on the edges of the coast-line. To sustain biodiversity and to maintain ecological processes and functions (for its own sake or for anthropocentric, human reasons), it will be necessary, for a very long time, to recreate, rebuild or repair habitats (Programme 3: Restoration of Disturbed Coastal Habitats). The science of restoration of coastal habitats is virtually unknown, and there is no sensible theory or understanding of how to create habitat that develops ecological function and maintains natural biodiversity. Many areas of wetlands around Sydney have been destroyed or damaged by urban developments. Many of the remaining areas of salt-marsh and mangrove forest are in poor shape due to reduced tidal flushing or other encroachments by people. The Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities (EICC) has generated many scientific papers and theses from research projects on the restoration of wetland habitats. The link to the URL provided in this record provides a link to this research.

Deterioration of coastal marine and estuarine habitats is inevitable in areas where human development is active. This is particularly the case in New South Wales (and throughout Australia) where a very large proportion of the population live on the edges of the coast-line. To sustain biodiversity and to maintain ecological processes and functions (for its own sake or for anthropocentric, human reasons), it will be necessary, for a very long time, to recreate, rebuild or repair habitats (Programme 3: Restoration of Disturbed Coastal Habitats). The science of restoration of coastal habitats is virtually unknown, and there is no sensible theory or understanding of how to create habitat that develops ecological function and maintains natural biodiversity. Around cities, there must be extensive infrastructure for ports, runways, bridges, roads, sea-walls, etc. Most of these create very alien habitats. For example, sea-walls are vertical and relatively featureless compared with the irregular, mostly horizontal natural rocky shores. The Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities (EICC) has generated many scientific papers and theses from research projects on changing urban structures as a form of restoration. The link to the URL provided in this record provides a link to this research. In addition, there is research on the ways discarded objects (e.g. old cars) on the sea-floor can replace lost subtidal habitat for animals and plants and what are the overall consequences for fauna and flora when rubbish is removed from areas of an urban harbour.

Seven case study locations (Keep, Daly, Roper, McArthur, Flinders, and Gilbert River estuaries, and Darwin Harbour) were used to test the utility of the Australian Landsat data archive in the Digital Earth Australia analysis platform for characterising and monitoring the condition and change in coastal habitats. A suite of analyses was undertaken including: assessing the extent of different coastal habitats, detecting coastal change including change in mangrove communities, and the distribution of intertidal areas. The work was successful in: (a) generating baseline information for the case study areas; and, (b) developing valuable monitoring tools for future use.

Research is focussed on the processes causing and maintaining patterns of distribution and abundance of animals and plants in coastal habitats (Program 1 - Ecology in Coastal Habitats). Without a good understanding of the ecology of species in these habitats, the interactions among the species and the relationships among patches of similar or different habitat, it is not possible to solve problems in the management of coastal change. Current research efforts are focused on methods for understanding spatial scales of variation in abundances of single species and of complex sets of species. Without this research, it is impossible to predict the consequences of human changes to coastal habitats, nor is it possible to make coherent plans for marine reserves. The Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities (EICC) is also very active in experimental analyses of biodiversity in different habitats and, particularly, how to measure changes through time and differences in space in the complex, interacting assemblages of species that make up coastal biodiversity. Other research projects are testing hypotheses from models about the processes linking ecological functions in a habitat and the local variations in diversity of the animals that bring about these functions. Without this research, conservation of biodiversity, restoration of habitats and understanding and managing impacts are impossible goals for Australian coastal communities. The (EICC) has generated many scientific papers and theses from research projects aimed at developing and improving the methods used to investigate ecological patterns and processes. The link to the URL provided in this record provides a link to this research.

This project has been designed to provide the Western Australian Government and its agencies with improved understanding of the coastal marine environment so that its decision making with regard to development in this zone is environmentally credible and sustainable. The project will deliver this result by the following sequence of research. First, existing data will be appraised in light of a simple system model for inshore coastal waters. This rudimentary understanding will be used to design environmental surveys for three representative coastal systems (chosen in consultation with WA departments and agencies). Whereupon, baseline data will be obtained on biodiversity, biogeochemical processes and environmental quality in these waterways. With this information, the research will then move on to consider the affects of selected stressors (localised sources and diffuse inputs) on the above ecological characteristics, and the potential for irreversible alteration. Where necessary, focussed investigations in the field or laboratory will be used to resolve key mechanisms and also the scale of response. Important outcomes for the project will be the development of validated environmental indicators for the use of coastal managers, and also other resources for them to better understand the complex interactions and inter-relations in coastal marine ecosystems (e.g. via conceptual models). This project will also work with other SRFME projects to improve capacity for prediction and scenario testing in environmental decision making via models and other tools.

This record provides an overview of the scope and research output of NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub Project B4 - "Underpinning the repair and conservation of Australia’s threatened coastal-marine habitats". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. The primary objective of this project is to provide essential research to underpin restoration efforts to increase the success and efficiency of shellfish and saltmarsh repair. The secondary objective is to quantify clear easily understood benefits of repair to further increase groundswell, Indigenous and interest group support for repair efforts. For Phase 2 this involves: Shellfish reefs 1. Providing critical research to underpin the success of companion works investments into Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) restoration in Qld and NSW 2. Ongoing engagement with Indigenous groups, focused around especially SEQ and NSW to match the emphasis on Sydney rock oyster; 3. Through the Nature Conservancy, linking to shellfish restoration works in Port Phillip Bay (Vic), St Vincent’s Gulf (SA) and Oyster Harbour (WA) so that a National Business Case complete with examples of successes to date can be developed; 4. Underpinning this succinct business case with an information base for any follow-on activities such as assessment of shellfish reefs as an endangered community. Salt marshes 1. Estimating the benefits of salt marsh repair for an easily publicly understood indicator - prawn species. 2. Undertaking this work in NSW and Qld in parallel with proposed repair works so that very concrete case studies are available to demonstrate the benefits of repair. Planned Outputs Shellfish reef project outputs: • A scientific paper published in an eminent, peer-reviewed journal describing the ecology and biodiversity of shellfish reefs and biodiversity comparison against other marine habitats; • A scientific paper published in an eminent, peer-reviewed journal which identifies trajectories of change from past baselines to current condition and develops achievable targets for repair; • News stories, web articles, social media, brochures and oral presentations at national/international conferences, which communicate the key research findings to coastal stakeholders such as fishers, divers, NRM groups and government agencies; • News stories, web articles and social media which communicate the importance of shellfish reefs and shellfish food sources to Indigenous Australians; • Summary of community benefit and business propositions for coastal wetland repair expanding on the vision of a rejuvenated coastal ecology and written at the level required for input to various investors, agencies and public policy; • Updates at the end of 2016 as part of stakeholder engagement and continued communication. Salt marsh prawn productivity outputs: • A scientific paper published in an eminent, peer-reviewed journal quantifying and contrasting prawn productivity in healthy and degraded salt marsh communities in tropical and temperate environments; • Publicly accessible communication resources (brochures, social media, media releases and webpages) which articulate simply the prawn productivity values of salt marshes and links this to the need for the protection, conservation and restoration of degraded salt marsh communities.

Urban cities generate considerable potential for ecological disturbance leading to environmental degradation (Programme 2: Anthropogenic Disturbances of Coastal Habitats). In particular, there are problems for organisms on hard and soft substrata because of building jetties, seawalls, pilings, etc. Human disturbances include foraging for bait and food and disposal of wastes. The research to understand ecological changes due to these disturbances is time-consuming and long-term, particularly when experimental analyses of processes during disturbances are planned. Predicting, measuring and interpreting impacts are hamstrung by poor sampling and analysis - often dictated by inadequate statutory requirements for Environmental Impact Statements. One major problem is that natural ecological assemblages of species vary enormously from time to time and place to place. Thus, even when undisturbed by people, ecological patterns are very different from place to place and change rapidly from time to time. All assessments of impacts are made difficult by large natural variations in space and time in the number of animals and plants. Against this very complex natural background, it is important to be able to design appropriate sampling and statistical procedures for reliable detection of unnatural change. Particularly important have been analyses of complex impacts through time, the consequences of impacts acting at different and unpredictable spatial scales and the power of sampling programmes, i.e. their likelihood of finding an impact of a particular size. The Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities (EICC) has generated many scientific papers and theses from research projects on numerous new and modified sampling designs and analytical procedures to help detect and measure impacts. The link to the URL provided in this record provides a link to this research.