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Abstract
Marine plants colonise several interconnected ecosystems in the Great Barrier Reef
region including tidal wetlands, seagrass meadows and coral reefs. Water quality in
some coastal areas is declining from human activities. Losses of mangrove and other
tidal wetland communities are mostly the result of reclamation for coastal development
of estuaries, e.g. for residential use, port infrastructure or marina development,
and result in river bank destabilisation, deterioration of water clarity and loss
of key coastal marine habitat. Coastal seagrass meadows are characterized by small
ephemeral species. They are disturbed by increased turbidity after extreme flood events,
but generally recover. There is no evidence of an overall seagrass decline or expansion.
High nutrient and substrate availability and low grazing pressure on nearshore reefs
have lead to changed benthic communities with high macroalgal abundance. Conservation
and management of GBR macrophytes and their ecosystems is hampered by scarce ecological
knowledge across macrophyte community types.