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Moreton Bay and Its Estuaries: A Sub-tropical System Under Pressure from Rapid Population Growth

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Estuaries of Australia in 2050 and beyond

Part of the book series: Estuaries of the World ((EOTW))

Abstract

Moreton Bay and its associated estuaries are an example of a complex aquatic system that is under increasing pressure from rapid population growth and urbanisation. Although the extent of decline in ecosystem health within Moreton Bay and its associated estuaries is significant and well documented, a range of innovative management responses have been implemented to reverse current declines. An overview of the development of Moreton Bay is provided, highlighting the dynamic and resilient nature of the system over geological time. The ecological responses that occur at decadal timeframes are presented along with a summary of the current state of the Bay’s ecology. The future challenges that are posed by predicted population increases, urbanisation and changes to the region’s climate are also discussed. The highly variable nature of the system over relatively short timeframes (i.e. flood vs non-flood conditions) as well as the ability of the system to adapt to long term changes (i.e. past morphological and ecosystem shifts) suggests that Moreton Bay and its associated estuaries have significant capacity to adapt to change. Whether the current rate of anthropogenically induced change is too rapid for the system to adapt, or whether such adaptions will be undesirable, is unable to be ascertained in any detail at this stage. Notwithstanding the above, the combination of a science-based management framework and the collaborative decision making processes that have been implemented to halt the decline of Moreton Bay have shown remarkable progress in a relatively short period of time.

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Acknowledgements

Resilience research on corals, seagrass and fish by Griffith University was supported financially by the Australian Research Council and the Queensland Government. Sections of this chapter have been based on or contain data kindly provided by the State of Queensland (Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Badin Gibbes & Alistair Grinham

  2. School of Geography Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia

    David Neil

  3. Australian Rivers Institute – Coast and Estuaries and School of Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, 4222, Australia

    Andrew Olds, Paul Maxwell & Rod Connolly

  4. Catchments and Receiving Environments, BMT WBM, Brisbane, 4000, Australia

    Tony Weber

  5. Queensland Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing, Marine Resource Management, Brisbane, 4002, Australia

    Nicola Udy

  6. Science and Innovation Program, Healthy Waterways Pty Ltd., Brisbane, QLD, 4003, Australia

    James Udy

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  1. Badin Gibbes
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Correspondence to Badin Gibbes .

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    Eric Wolanski

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Gibbes, B. et al. (2014). Moreton Bay and Its Estuaries: A Sub-tropical System Under Pressure from Rapid Population Growth. In: Wolanski, E. (eds) Estuaries of Australia in 2050 and beyond. Estuaries of the World. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7019-5_12

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