Abstract
Disturbances to mangroves in the arid Dampier–Cossack region of Western Australia are described. Of the 70 km2 of mangals surveyed, 12 km2 are now dead, over 95% of this following permanent ponding of seawater within a salt evaporator. Other examples of death and morbidity are related to altered tidal exchange from road construction and asphyxiation from dumping of dredge-spoil. Changes in soil properties under variable tidal wetting at landward, hypersaline sites show that tidal recharge has most influence on the upper layer of the soil profile where groundwater salinity is diluted temporarily during inundation. Two factors are implicated in mass mortality of mangroves associated with roads: intermittent ponding of seawater which submerges pneumatophore roots for days rather than hours and diminished tidal recharge which increases soil salinity beyond the upper concentration (90‰) associated with living mangroves in this region.
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