'Shocking images' reveal death of 10,000 hectares of mangroves across Northern Australia

[n2doc]

Close to 10,000 hectares of mangroves have died across a stretch of coastline reaching from Queensland to the Northern Territory.

International mangroves expert Dr Norm Duke said he had no doubt the "dieback" was related to climate change.

"It's a world-first in terms of the scale of mangrove that have died," he told the ABC.

Dr Duke flew 200 kilometres between the mouths of the Roper and McArthur Rivers in the Northern Territory last month to survey the extent of the dieback.

He described the scene as the most "dramatic, pronounced extreme level of dieback that I've ever observed".

more
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-10/unprecedented-10000-hectares-of-mangroves-die/7552968

[CrispyQ]

1. The articles in the E&E group are the hardest ones to read.

I look at everything around me & think how fragile our system is, how fragile our lifestyles are. We turn a facet & water comes out. We move a lever & the heat comes on. We go to grocery stores where the shelves are always full. It can turn on a dime & we go about our lives like everything is secure. I don't think we treat each other well in this country & I wonder how much worse it will get as climate change escalates. Humanity is about to get smacked down my Mother Nature & it's gonna hurt.

On that happy note, I'm off to the store to get some pumpkin for my cat who needs the extra fiber in her diet.

[WhiteTara]

2. And the kelp forest in Southern Australia

have died as well
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0710/Death-of-Australia-s-other-great-reef-a-troubling-sign-for-world-s-kelp-forests