On Marine Ecosystem Disturbance Regimes, Benthic Habitat Characterisation and Applications for Environmental Management: a Physical Sedimentological Perspective  

Authors / CoAuthors

Harris, P.T.

Abstract

Physical sedimentological processes such as the mobilisation and transport of shelf sediments during extreme storm events give rise to disturbance regimes that characterise many shelf ecosystems. Connell's (1978) intermediate disturbance hypothesis predicts that biodiversity is controlled by the frequency of disturbance events, their spatial extent and the amount of time required for ecological succession. A review of available literature suggests that rates of ecological succession in shelf environments range from 1 to over 10 years. Physical sedimentological processes operating on continental shelves having this same return frequency include synoptic storms, eddies shed from intruding ocean currents and extreme storm events (cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes). Research by physical sedimentologists has shown that the results of such storms may include widespread erosion, deposition of storm beds over 1m in thickness and destruction of bioherms such as coral reefs. Published models of extreme storms indicate their influence may extend to over 100 km from the pressure-centre of the atmospheric depression. Information such as this is essential to marine managers charged with the design of marine protected areas (MPAs) and other conservation measures aimed at protecting and preserving biodiversity in the oceans. Further modelling studies are needed to more accurately represent shelf disturbance regimes in relation to the spatial and temporal variations associated with shelf ecological successions.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

65583

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Keywords

• External PublicationArticle

( Theme )

• continental shelf

( Theme )

• marine park

( Theme )

• environmental

( Theme )

• sedimentology

( Theme )

• marine

• AU-QLD

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Earth Sciences

• Published_Internal

Publication Date

2007-12-17T00:00:00

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

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Use - license

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Purpose

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unknown

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geoscientificInformation

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Unknown

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Extents

[-20.0, -9.0, 140.0, 150.0]

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Spatial Resolution

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