resilience

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority seeks to develop a socio-economic monitoring program, but there are a vast number of variables (or ‘indicators’) that could, potentially, be monitored and monitoring is not a costless exercise. So, it is important to ensure that the variables selected for ‘monitoring’, are ones which, (a) provide reliable, relevant information, which (b) measure interactions between sub-systems (e.g. socio-economic and biophysical) and which (c) are clearly associated with the Authority’s primary goal of protecting the Reef, i.e.

Understanding temporal and spatial patterns of vulnerability under environmental impacts and change is central to the management of marine parks. Quantitative assessments of vulnerability, however, are one of the greatest challenges for management planning of coral reef ecosystems, including the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). One reason is the lack of a functional operational framework that can link environmental factors to vulnerability via physical, biological and ecological processes and their interactions.

This project proposes to provide information and tools to enable scientists and management agencies to predict and limit the impacts of extreme climatic events on Australia’s biodiversity.  It aims to determine the exposure, sensitivity and vulnerability of Wet Tropics biodiversity to climatic extremes, and assess contemporary and future impacts.

This project will provide detailed mapping of present and future biodiversity patterns and drivers, environmental and evolutionary refugia and a comprehensive assessment of the vulnerability and resilience of rainforest biodiversity in Australian tropical forests. The project team will use a combination of available knowledge, existing datasets and strategic research to inform adaptive strategies for promoting persistence of biodiversity.