[Extract] The aim of the project was to produce fine-resolution mapping of the location of the critically endangered Littoral Rainforest & Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia ecological community (LRF) between Townsville and Cooktown and the threats to its persistence and condition from the impacts of sea-level rise, storm surge and extreme weather events.
A pilot study conducted in the Mission Beach area (Metcalfe et al. 2014) developed a mapping approach which accounts for the identification and distribution of Littoral rainforest consistent with the Listing Advice. This project extended that approach across the distribution of the ecological community from Townville to Cooktown.
This project used coastal LiDAR data (1 m grid, 0.15 m accuracy) to compile fine-scale terrain layers to derive inundation levels for an 80 cm sea-level rise and for eight storm surge Annual Recurrence Intervals (ARIs) between 20 and 10,000 years. Spatial layers of the location of LRF and inundation were overlaid to determine the probability and magnitude of risk to the ecological community from these effects and to prioritise management interventions.
The following spatial layers were derived and are available at the CSIRO data portal:
• LRF vegetation that ‘wholly-equates’ to the EPBC Listing Advice
• ‘Potential’ LRF delineating areas consistent with broad characteristics of the community described in the EPBC Listing Advice
• Inundation statistics for each patch of wholly-equate LRF and potential LRF (patches defined by RE mapping) indicating:
o the proportion of each patch inundated with 80 cm sea-level rise
o the proportion of each patch inundated at each of 8 ARIs with and without sea-level rise
o the ARI at which a patch first becomes inundated
o the ARI at which a patch is >20% inundated
o the ARI at which a patch is >50% inundated
We describe the distribution and extent of LRF in the study region, the current pressures on LRF in the region and the distribution of LRF in the region with respect to the conservation estate and other tenures.
Our mapping and inundation analysis can be used to define a number of different roles of LRF in the landscape on which a portfolio of management approaches can be derived which allow for the short-, medium- and long-term effects of sea-level rise and storm surge. We define ‘refugial’, ‘buffer’ and ‘leading-edge’ LRF patches by the relative frequency at which they become inundated and suggest management actions to improve resilience of the community as a whole
