Temperate urban mangrove forests : their ecological linkages with adjacent habitats

Estuarine habitats along the temperate south-eastern shores of Australia are generally made up of salt marsh, mangrove forests and seagrass beds. In urban areas these habitats have been progressively fragmented as a result of population increase and industrial expansion. Salt marshes in particular have been vulnerable to urban expansion and reclamation because of their close proximity to densely populated areas, while mangrove forests have been less often reclaimed because of frequent tidal inundation. The effect of reclamation of salt marshes on the biotic assemblages and functioning of mangrove forests with an adjacent salt marsh, park or bund wall was examined at nine separate locations on the Parramatta River, Sydney NSW. A mensurative approach was used to describe the patterns of distribution and abundance of macro fauna at several temporal and spatial scales. The implications for management are that salt marshes are an integral part of estuaries, and smaller patches of salt marsh are just as important as larger patches in maintaining the diversity of faunal assemblages and ecosystem functioning in mangrove forests in urban area