Dr Norm Duke Blue Forests' Interview

Dr Norm Duke Blue Forests' Interview

Manta rays, turtles and sharks are just some of the iconic species that rely on blue forests, as habitat and nurseries for their young.

Earthwatch and James Cook University are calling for volunteers to assist scientists in assessing the health of blue forests in the World Heritage Daintree region.

The overall health of Australia's Great Barrier Reef is dependent on healthy blue forests. Filtering pollutants from agriculture and floods and buffering shorelines from damaging erosion and storms, these 'kidneys of the coast' are vital to the survival of many iconic species.

Richard Gilmore, Executive Director, Earthwatch says "Blue forests hold the key to keeping our oceans healthy".

"Australia has one of the world's largest blue forest areas. With our neighbours in Indonesia, South-East Asia and the Pacific, we have half the world's remaining blue forests right on our doorstep," he says.

These forests also have high economic value supporting 50% of the world's fisheries and storing vast amounts of greenhouse gases.

Conserving just 100 hectares of mangroves can have the equivalent carbon benefit of replanting more than 3,000 hectares of dry land forests. Despite their value, mangroves are severely threatened, with less than half remaining worldwide.

The Daintree's Hidden Coastline expedition runs for 10 days on 25th May and 22nd October, 2012. Volunteers contribute $2,200, covering their accommodation, food, boat costs and a donation to the research.

The information collected will be used to inform global management of blue forests.

For more information visit www.earthwatch.org.au

Interview with Dr Norm Duke

Question: What is a blue forest?

Dr Norm Duke: 'Blue forests' are coastal mangrove forests in their role of removing harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They're 'blue' because they are associated with the sea. These special intertidal trees sequester, bury and hold large amounts of carbon in their shoreline habitats along embayments and estuaries of warm coastal areas. Both green land trees and blue mangrove forests hold carbon in live wood and roots. But, blue forests differ because they also often bury 4-5 times more carbon below ground in the form of peat. In this way, they usefully provide highly effective, natural reservoirs or depositories for carbon storage - 'blue carbon'.


Question: How are you and the team protecting these blue forests?

Dr Norm Duke: To protect valuable blue forests, scientists need to educate, raise awareness and get more people involved in their assessment and better management. Our teams comprise of a broad variety of people, and we encourage each person to contribute further, if they wish. Our outlining tasks include: a program describing biodiversity and biomass of blue forests and how this changes over time; and, another program on monitoring the status and health of whole coastal areas over time. Our teams are led by scientists who recognise the vulnerability of blue forests faced with ever-growing pressures of coastal development and climate change. Our teams contribute to the preservation of these forests by becoming more aware of the many benefits provided by blue forests, and with the application of standardised monitoring methodologies. The methods employed are practical, cost-effective and easy to learn - as well as being suitably rigorous in science. They are also technologically relevant using available digital video and GPS, to gather data that can both provide a permanent archive of imagery coupled with data derived from on-going assessments.


Question: Why is it important to protect these blue forests?

Dr Norm Duke: Blue forests are considered important natural habitat for a variety of reasons - and, readily worthy of protection. They are essential habitat for valuable fish, crabs and prawns - recognising that at least 75% of commercial and recreational coastal fisheries are dependent on blue forests. These forests have acknowledged roles in coastal productivity and connectivity, often supporting high biodiversity and biomass not possible otherwise. Mangrove ecosystems are key sources of coastal primary production with complex trophic linkages, as nursery and breeding sites of marine and arboreal life, and as physical shelter and a buffer from episodic severe storms, river flows and large waves.


Question: How does the overall health of Australia's Great Barrier Reef depend on the health of blue forests?

Dr Norm Duke: In coastal waters facing Australia's Great Barrier Reef, mangrove blue forests are sandwiched between two of the world's iconic ecosystems of coral reefs and tropical rainforests. Linked and dependent relationships developed over millennia are vital to the survival of each biome. Colonial corals flourish in shallow warm seas of coasts where blue forests buffer and protect corals from land runoff. Blue forests absorb unwanted nutrients and turbid waters stabilizing otherwise smothering water-borne sediments and depositional shorelines. These specialised plant assemblages provide important ecosystem services along with additional acknowledged roles of highly productive habitat and nursery sites. The consequences in disturbing these habitats is likely to have unexpected and far-reaching impacts on these neighbouring ecosystems and their dependant biota.


Question: How does the overall health of all oceans depend on the health of blue forests?

Dr Norm Duke: As with Australia's Great Barrier Reef, blue forests buffer the world's ocean systems from the influences of land runoff and coastal development.


Question: What will happen to the Great Barrier Reef if we don't continue to protect and preserve these blue forests?

Dr Norm Duke: The health of blue forests is symptomatic of the health of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Where blue forests are damaged and lost, there will no longer be protection from land-derived runoff leading to reduced coastal water quality with higher turbidity, increased loads of nutrients and agricultural chemicals. These are all bad for coral reef growth and survival. The condition of blue forests are an indicator of coastal coral reef condition.


Question: How has global warming contributed to the damaged described?

Dr Norm Duke: Blue forests are intimately affected by global climate change - affecting them in a number of ways. Warming temperatures result in direct changes in species diversity and distribution, encouraging plants to grow more vigorously in areas near species limits, and extentions of natural range limits into higher latitude locations. Increasing sea levels must result in significant shifts in habitat up land profiles resulting in both sea edge erosion and loss, coupled with landward encroachment where possible. Movement upland is dependent on slope, substrate and presence of coastal rockwalls and other man-built structures. Increased severity of storm events and stronger winds result in greater disturbance and damage from which blue forest regeneration and survival will eventually succumb. Increased variability in rainfall will result in some areas becoming more arid, while other areas will have increased rainfall. These changes will have profound effects of relative abundances of mangrove trees and saltmarsh plants, influencing all dependant biota, like fish stocks and nursery areas.


Question: Can you describe the type of volunteers that are needed to assess the health of blue forests in the World Heritage Daintree region?

Dr Norm Duke: Volunteers needed for assessing blue forests in the Daintree Hidden Coast program are people who are reasonably fit and ready for a most unusual adventure. How often do you have the opportunity to visit the most lush and tropical mangrove habitats imaginable. Be prepared for an experience of a life time! Our team members are going to get amongst tropical tidal wetlands, crocodiles in the wild, and learn so much about a strange and exotic natural habitat that few have ever experienced. And, our volunteers will learn about the blue forests, and why they are so important.


Interview by Brooke Hunter