SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald
DATE: March 14, 2017
SNIP: The death of mangrove forests stretched over 1000 kilometres of Australia’s northern coast a year ago has been blamed on extreme conditions including record temperatures.
Dr Duke said scientists now know that mangroves, much like coral reefs, are vulnerable to a warming climate and extreme weather events. Until now, Australian mangroves were considered to be in relatively good condition, and there had never been such dieback recorded.
The mangrove wipeout could have multiple impacts, including the loss of fisheries worth hundreds of millions of dollars, more coastal erosion because of the loss of forest protection, and poorer water quality given the filtering role the trees play, he said.
The death of so much mangrove forest in one hit is “unprecedented“, a researcher says.