New Transit System for Sunshine Coast

The Year 10 geography field trip was an insightful experience into the workings and functioning of metropolitan coastlines here in South Australia. The day consisted of visiting various beaches in Adelaide that were influenced by some form of hard or soft engineering techniques that changed the natural processes of the beaches. What was evident from this trip was how much these beaches have been changed to an extent where it is unlikely that they will ever go back to the way they were prior to human settlement.

Because the GBR is such a highly visited tourist attraction for snorkeling and diving, there has been a large number of human structures that have been built in natural areas. Every five years, the Australian government publishes an Outlook Report that examines the Great Barrier Reef’s health, pressures, and likely future. “The report is required under Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (section 54) and aims to provide a regular and reliable means of assessing reef health and management in an accountable and transparent way.” The report shows the actions that have been taken since 2009, including the focus on improving the quality of water that runs off the land. The increased freshwater run-off is in direct relation to the coastal development that has occurred since the major bleaching events have begun. The report released in 2009, states that the greatest risks to the Reef are still climate change, land-based runoff, coastal development, and some remaining impacts of fishing and illegal fishing and poaching. The report points out climate change as being the main cause of the destruction or bleaching of the reef (Department of Environment and Energy 2017). Most observers conclude that the climate change is a direct result of human

Tourism in Australia has evolved over the years and continues to increase to this day, however it is the effects that tourists have the ability to place on the Southern Great Barrier Reef which are potentially threatening for, not only the reef of lady Elliot Island, however, the corals surrounding it. “International visitations within Australia alone reached 3.9 million visitors within the first 7 months of 2014, which was an increase of approximately 9.5%, a number which continues to rise” (Tourism Australia, 2015). However, with this increasing number, comes possible damaging effects to the surrounding reefs of Lady Elliot Island, possibly leading to the excessive damage of corals due to activities and infrastructure requirements

Hastings Point is a small coastal town located in New South Wales that is sounded by a national park. Hastings point has been a great location for tourists due to its marine wildlife, beaches and fishing. This destination is home to a magnificent rocky shore perfectly suited for a vast majority and wide range of marine wildlife. The rocky shore has a wide spread of both biotic and abiotic factors which provides a suitable ecosystem for all wildlife but unfortunately this unindustrialized location is becoming over developed. This takes a toll on Hastings point ecosystem immensely because the estuary, beach and the living organisms are slowly diminishing in

The Port Noarlunga Reef is Adelaide’s main attraction. The reef exists on the eastern side of Gulf St Vincent discovered in 1971 and used for about 36 years. This narrow reef is a sandstone reef as it was formed by sand dunes. The reef is 1.6km long and lying 400m offshore. The reef is separated to two where on one of the sides the species are protected and is a reserve while the other side is where the species are not endangered which includes a mix of heterotrophs and autotrophs. In this part of the reef you can fish or do activities such as boating, snorkelling, Scuba diving, swimming, and recreational fishing. Many focus on snorkelling and Scuba diving, which makes Port Noarlunga reef special and attracts 170,000 visitors per year. The ability to interact with the species and swim and snorkel or scuba dive makes the experience much more natural and fun and hence makes this place Adelaide number one attraction. There is also a underwater trail where this gives education to the youth and also enhances the experience in marine ecosystem.

Caloundra is a coastal town within the Sunshine coast region, surrounded by beaches such as Bulcock Beach, Kings Beach, Golden Beach, Dicky Beach and the Pumicestone Passage. Caloundra provides a range of outdoor activities, especially as a result of its lush natural environment, promoting a heathy life style and attracting tourism and locals through recreational activities. The local economy of Caloundra is primarily seasonal, and is currently suffering due to competition from surrounding areas such as Kawana Town Centre, South Caloundra (AURA) development, and Maroochydore developments. In response to this, the Sunshine Coast Regional Council has developed a Master Plan to revitalise the CBD of Caloundra, attracting tourism and income back

It has long been known that plants act as a natural filter of water, removing all the properties that would harm the creatures that ingest it. A key issue facing developers today is an expanding population. With expanding urban sprawl vastly affecting the green space urban development, strategies continue to focus on removing the encroachment of land as a development strategy and going ‘up’. This essay will focus on the eutrophication of waterways within Australia and in

Task 2 Investigate an environmental issue of significance in Australia Global Warming and climate Change

The reform Miami takes three primary factors into account before implementing any kind of reform policy which are: planning, measuring, and monitoring. This practical framework allows them to decipher how spending should be evaluated, how performance should be measured, and how effectiveness should be monitored. There are numerous reforms on a broad spectrum which Miami seeks to take action; however, this paper will hone in specifically on transportation reform.

Environmental sustainability refers to the ability to maintain the qualities that are valued in the physical environment (Sutton, 2004). Threats to these features of the environment mean that there is a risk that these will not be maintained (Sutton, 2004). For example, damage that is done to the natural environment can generate threats of serious decline in quality or destruction (Sutton, 2004). The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is one of the seven wonders of the world, however, it is slowly facing decline. Threats to the Great Barrier Reef include climate change, coral bleaching, a major outburst of the Crown-of-thorns starfish and tourism. The Australian Government’s response to the recommendations of the United Nations Educational, Scientific

My report is based on the data that I have collected when I visited the Sydney Olympic Park and the Royal Botanical Gardens. This was a two day project and it required me to collect at least five species to make my observations and record the data via the climate watch website. Since I could not download the app on my mobile phone, I decided to write down my observations with the help of the climate watch website. This website tells us how to record data, why, where and what observations we should be making. Before presenting my data I would like to acknowledge the diverse and rich biodiversity that Sydney Olympic Park has to offer. Sydney Olympic Park’s rich biodiversity reserves and incorporates more than 400 local plant species and more than 200 local vertebrate species. It is

As the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)in Australia is the natural heritage, whose ecosystem is subject to

The coral reef surveyors were instructed to find the best sites that they believed had the most living coral and were thought to be least affected by human activities. This would allow Hodgson to determine if human activities were having an appreciable effect on the supposed pristine coral reefs, which were distant from urban centers. The invertebrate survey was undertaken at two depth intervals of 3m and 10m. Four 0.5 m wide by 20 m long belts were placed on the coral reef. Over a period of 3-5 minutes the observers counted the number of invertebrates found on the belts. The coral survey was performed, by placing four 20 m long belts on the coral substrate. At 0.5 m intervals the substrate on which the belts were lying was examined and recorded.

The intertidal rocky shore of Caloundra Beach is inhabited by diverse range of biodiversity of animals and plants, many of which have developed high levels of adaptations throughout their existence. The very boundary of marine and terrestrial ecosystem, this environment is subjected to extremes of the physical environment such as temperature, desiccation, wave turbulence as well the ecological interactions that commonly occur in biotic communities (e.g. competition, predation). However Rocky intertidal shores are easily accessible by humans and provide an enjoyable opportunity for passive recreation and for science and environmental education as well.

Imbalances in delicate ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef can often be created through overfishing, affecting the Reef’s ecological biodiversity (Bean, 2010). Fast-tracked mega-port developments also pose a threat to the environmental integrity of the Reef, potentially resulting in the dredging and dumping of millions of tonnes of seabed and rock (AMCS, 2015). This pollutes the water quality of the reef, changing nutrient levels, and is further compounded with catchment pollution from agriculture, such as off run pesticides and fine sediment (RWQPP, 2014).