A page of photopoints recording changes in mangrove and samphire extent across the site.
Other pages may be added as more monitoring topics are undertaken. A description of the monitoring program is contained in the Management Plan for Mangrove Cove.
This photopoint is taken from the northernmost walking path through the reserve plantings. A small white peg has been inserted into the garden bed adjacent to the path to mark where to stand to take the photographs. Ideally a panorama setting can be used. This photograph was taken in March 2008, soon after planting, and is the baseline photograph for this site.
The new photopoint photographed again, in December 2011. Notice that the Melaleuca halmaturorum are starting to gain some size, and that mangroves (Avicennia marina) are establishing themselves close to the foot of the retreat zone. As they colonise across the base of the old boat ramp they will stabilise the sediment and the saltmarsh may be able to move further down the slope.
January 2013 the Myoporum in the right background is now obscuring the front of the buildings in the background. The saltmarsh plantings are looking in poor condition after a harsh series of heatwaves, but will recover. The Melaleucas adjacent to the Myoporums and across the site have grown and in a few years may obscure the view of the colonising mangroves.
January 2014 The high marsh plantings are looking in poor condition, with many dead plants. However the Melaleucas across the ramp have grown and have extended their canopies significantlyand the low marsh species appear to be expanding as well.
Nearly two years later, in December 2015, you can see the Melaleucas have continued to thrive while the herbaceous species are losing ground. That said, further downslope there is a new flush of seedling Cyperus.
In early January 2017 at the top of the ramp things are still looking a little sparse, but the Melaleucas continue to flourish. Some of the Myoporums on the embankment (RHS of photo) have been thinned.
January 2018 almost all Myoporums have been removed from the embankment however the Melaleucas on the embankment are healthy and some smaller ones on the retreat zone have heavy flower.
What can't be seen from the photopoint, but that can be seen from other photopoints (see Location 3 in the saltmarsh and mangrove extent monitoring page, and the Jan 2017 photo below) are the young mangroves that are starting to grow across the seaward end of the ramp. In behind these young new trees sediment is accumulating. Saltmarsh plants (mostly Suaeda australis so far, but there are also occasional Sarcocornia quinqueflora) are slowly gaining a toe-hold. Further along the embankment you can see the pneumatophores of the maturing mangroves are now sufficiently dense that a new cohort of seedlings has somewhere stable to establish.
A transect has been established from the rock embankment down the old capped boat ramp. The rock used as the zero point of the transect is a large rock with red striations and has a small amount of white paint placed on its lower right face. (See photo below, left). A measuring tape was laid out down the ramp, in line with the 3rd Log Pool pole to the right of the last of the "Swimmers" sculptures (see photo below right).