Climate change impacts on the coastal wetlands of Australia

The Australian continent spans coastal wetland settings ranging from extensive mangrove forest and sabkha plains occupying in the tropical north, to the southern half of the continent, where high wave energy constrains wetlands within numerous barrier-fronted estuaries, drowned river valleys and coastal embayments. Only on the island of Tasmania are mangroves absent; elsewhere mangroves, Casuarina, Melaleuca and saltmarsh interact in ways illustrative of the effects of ongoing climate, tidal and sea-level change. Observations over several decades have suggested that recent anthropogenic climate change may already be impacting Australian coastal wetlands in important ways. A period of accelerating sea-level rise has been associated with saline intrusion, mangrove encroachment and Melaleuca dieback in the tropical north, punctuated by widespread mangrove mortality in drought periods. The consistent trend of mangrove encroachment and replacement of saltmarsh in the south, is associated with an “accretion deficit” in saltmarsh during contemporary sea-level rise. We review the ecological and cultural implications of these changes, including impacts on habitat provision for migratory birds, fisheries values, carbon sequestration and Indigenous cultural values. Current legislative and policy protections may not be sufficient to meet the increasingly dynamic impacts of climate change in altering wetland boundaries, composition and function.