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Sandy beach ecosystem resilience and adaptation to sea level rise
Dissertation   Open access

Sandy beach ecosystem resilience and adaptation to sea level rise

Ashton Berry
University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Sunshine Coast
2015
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25907/00592
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Abstract

coastal development ecological conservation engineered options protection retreat sea level rise vulnerability adaptation options climate change coastal management coastal squeeze development ecosystem conservation adaptive capacity
Coastal ecosystems are some of the most dynamic in the world. Often forming the interface between oceanic and terrestrial influences, they can be highly exposed environments repeatedly experiencing extremes of temperature, salinity, storms and tides. Climate change also has significant impact on coastal ecosystems through patterns of increasing temperature, decreasing rainfall and the growing frequency and intensity of storm events. However, it is widely considered in the scientific community that the impact of sea level rise (SLR) will prove the most critical to natural and human coastal systems. Increasing sea levels are likely to submerge many low-lying coastal areas and intensify other disturbances including storms and shoreline erosion and retreat. This is especially the case for ecosystems at the forefront of the impacts of SLR, such as sandy beach ecosystems (SBEs). The extent to which SLR will impact SBEs and, critically, how these systems will adapt and maintain their resilience to the resulting impacts is the basis for abundant coastal research globally. The resilience of SBEs to SLR forms the core research theme for this PhD thesis. SBEs, comprised of wave, intertidal and backshore zones, are formed from loose unconsolidated accumulations of sand that respond dynamically to the erosive action of waves, winds and currents. Due to their susceptibility to erosion, SBEs are highly vulnerable to SLR. Over millennia, sandy beaches have retreated landward over many kilometres due to historic fluctuations in sea level. As they move they form refugial habitat for those species able to track their migration. Sandy beaches that are unable to retreat are squeezed and eventually drown as sea levels continue to increase. Refugial habitats retain the requisite ecological, physiological, and environmental conditions conducive to the survival of individual species and ecosystems over ecological and climatic timescales. Refugia play an important role in the conservation of ecosystems and species as climates change, yet many habitats that function as refugia have yet to be recognised or protected.

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