Coastal wetlands of temperate eastern Australia: will Cinderella ever go to the ball?

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Boon, Paul I (2012) Coastal wetlands of temperate eastern Australia: will Cinderella ever go to the ball? Marine and Freshwater Research, 63 (10). pp. 845-855. ISSN 1323-1650 (print), 1448-6059 (online)

Abstract

The many sheltered embayments, riverine estuaries and drowned river valleys of temperate eastern Australia support a large area and a wide diversity of coastal wetlands. This region also supports over one-half of the country’s population and includes its major tourist and industrial centres. The story of Cinderella provides an excellent simile for the status of coastal wetlands in this region of Australia: coastal wetlands provide extremely valuable ecosystem services (indeed, of considerably greater value than those provided by an equivalent area of inland wetland), yet they are undervalued by the general community, by natural-resource managers and by funding agencies. The selective investment of ecological research (including rehabilitationstudies) into inlandwetlands –and in particular into floodplain wetlands of the Murray–Darling Basin – has left us inadequately equipped to understand how temperate coastal wetlands function, how they will respond to climate change, and how degraded sites can be rehabilitated. Not only is an increase in research funding required, but funding has to be coordinated and focussed. The problem, however, is not only a lack of research funding; at a more fundamental level, the widespread ignorance of the value of temperate coastal wetlands needs also to be addressed.

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Item type Article
URI https://vuir.vu.edu.au/id/eprint/22224
DOI 10.1071/MF12205
Official URL http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id...
Subjects Historical > FOR Classification > 0501 Ecological Applications
Historical > FOR Classification > 0602 Ecology
Current > Division/Research > College of Science and Engineering
Keywords ResPubID25545, climate change, coastal lagoons, funding, ICOLLs, response envelopes, salinity, water regime, valuation, vegetation, estuarine, rivers, scrubs, shrublands, environmental impact assessment, environmental protection, Australia
Citations in Scopus 13 - View on Scopus
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