{"id":5497,"date":"2018-10-16T11:01:58","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T01:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/?page_id=5497"},"modified":"2018-10-16T11:15:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T01:15:51","slug":"repairing-the-great-barrier-reefs-wetlands-homes-for-so-many-aquatic-flora-and-fauna","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/news-events\/e-newsletters-2\/october-2018\/repairing-the-great-barrier-reefs-wetlands-homes-for-so-many-aquatic-flora-and-fauna\/","title":{"rendered":"Repairing the Great Barrier Reef\u2019s wetlands: homes for so many aquatic flora and fauna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coastal wetlands are a very important and often overlooked component of the Great Barrier Reef group of ecosystems. They act as natural filters for water, reducing erosion and nutrient run off, in addition to providing safe havens to numerous species of key reef fish and bird species during juvenile and adult life stages.<\/p>\n

A large extent of the wetlands in the Great Barrier Reef catchment have been either drained or cleared, mainly to make way for farms and urban expansion.\u00a0 The Wet Tropics, Mackay-Whitsunday and Burnett-Mary regions have lost nearly half their total wetland area, while remaining wetlands are subject to various threats and disturbances, including invasive species such as feral pigs.<\/p>\n

Feral pigs are a huge problem for wetlands because they dig up large areas of wetland soils, disrupting normal soil structure and plant communities, and kill native species such as turtles. Keeping pigs out of wetlands is a key objective for managers aiming to improve and protect Great Barrier Reef coastal wetlands.<\/p>\n

A Tropical Water Quality Hub project<\/strong><\/a> is evaluating the effectiveness of different methods for repairing wetlands. One project site is looking at an 8 km fence installed to prevent pigs accessing a 56-hectare section of the Round Hill Reserve, in Eurimbula National Park south of Gladstone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Project leader Dr Nathan Waltham from James Cook University is working with the Burnett Mary Regional Group (BMRG) and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) to check water quality, soil dynamics, vegetation and animal species inside the protected area, compared to similar wetland areas nearby without pig fences.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re protecting wetlands from pigs using fences, the expectation is that there\u2019ll be water quality improvements,\u201d Dr Waltham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t a lot of extant data on wild pig impacts on wetland quality, which is one of the knowledge gaps that we\u2019re trying to plug with this project. We do have indications so far that the presence of feral pigs can affect oxygen availability and there are obvious changes to turbidity from them digging up soil and streambanks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Waltham\u2019s project includes evaluating other wetland remediation projects across the GBR catchment, including the removal of a bund wall at Mungalla Wetlands, a constructed wetland near Babinda, and invasive plant removals.<\/p>\n

He said \u2018each wetland was different\u2019 and the project would be critical to helping environmental managers design wetland remediation projects on a case-by-case basis in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a benefit-implication calculation for each wetland,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to set up what goals you\u2019re trying to achieve early in the project.\u201d<\/p>\n

A vital aspect of the project is the close cooperative relationship between researchers and landholders, especially Indigenous landholders in the case of the Mungalla Wetlands and Babinda constructed wetland project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of passion there, and has become an important two way sharing of knowledge and information,\u201d Dr Waltham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s their land and it\u2019s in their interest to look after it, and wetlands are key to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project will continue for three years.<\/p>\n

An article on the Round Hill protected area on the James Cook University site is available here<\/a><\/strong>, and more information on Nathan Waltham\u2019s Tropical Water Quality Hub project can be found here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back to the October 2018 e-Newsletter contents<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coastal wetlands are a very important and often overlooked component of the Great Barrier Reef group of ecosystems. They act as natural filters for water, reducing erosion and nutrient run … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5498,"parent":5484,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5497","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5497\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}