Contact details for Ms Karen Ka-Man Lee k.lee@griffith.edu.au

Thesis

Impacts of urbanisation on sandflat ecology

Description

Estuaries are complex, dynamic and productive water bodies. Ecotone intertidal habitats in estuaries, including mangroves, saltmarshes, sandflats and mudflats, not only offer extensive, high quality habitats for a variety of terrestrial and aquatic species but also support major population and industrial centres, recreational and agricultural activities in their surrounding areas. Expanding urbanisation along estuarine shores has had large-scale adverse effects on coastal wetlands, such as increased pollutant loading and habitat alteration. These changes may alter local primary and secondary production in areas associated with the estuaries, such as intertidal sandflats and salt marsh. Ecological studies of the impacts of urbanisation have mainly focused on vegetated intertidal systems, such as mangroves and saltmarshes. Few studies have been conducted on the impacts of urbanization on sand- or mudflats, which are often the most extensive intertidal habitats. This project aims to elucidate the trophic relationships within the sandflat community and to assess the resilience of sandflats subjected to urbanisation using novel chemical tracer and ecological network analysis techniques.

Supervisors

Prof Joe Lee
A/Prof Rod Connolly

Research expertise

• Ecotoxicology
• Stable isotope analysis
• Ecological modeling

Publications

• A new predatory flatworm (Platyhelminthes, Polycladida) from Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia
  (*Ka-Man Lee, A. M. Beal and E. L. Johnston (2006), Journal of Natural History, 39, 3987-3995)
• Low levels of copper reduce the reproductive success of a mobile invertebrate predator
  (*Ka-Man Lee, E. L. Johnston (2007), Marine Environmental Research, 64, 336-346)