Monograph Series no. 11: The Geomorphological and Zonational Development of Mangrove Swamps in the Townsville Area, North Queensland

This monograph represents a shortened selective version of Dr. Spenceley's PhD thesis. Following a brief introductory survey of current views on the distribution and characteristics of mangrove associations. There is a summary of the relevant conditions of the natural enviroment of the Townsville area. The specific local features of the investigation sites on Magnetic Island and at Saunders Beach, including detailed tabulations of the characteristics of soil texture, are presented. In addition for each of these areas vegetation transects from low water inland are described. The author then outlines the field, laboratory and statistical analytical methods he employed. Appendix 1 indicates the details of the techniques of the chemical analysis undertaken. The results of the analysis of the field data which cover both the differences between the individual mangrove zones and those over the different months of the year is extensively summarised in the Appendices 2 and 3. The data provided on the variation in the various soil nutrients offer a valuable foundation for comparative investigations by other workers in mangrove environments elsewhere. The results of a factor analysis at three levels (surface, 100 mm and 300 mm depths) of the soil variables are tabulated and graphical representations of means and strandard deviations for each site are included to illustrate the range of the soil nutrients studied. The discussion is then directed to a consideration of a number of questions that arise from the general problems of trying to relate mangrove distributions to the multivariate soil profiles. The outcome of the study demonstrates the complexity of the ecology of mangroves. No one vegation group correlatd with a particular set of soil nutrients. Local site factors cleary played a significant role. These included the vegatation cover and the organic matter in the soil derived from it, the sediment texture, the rainfall seasonality and the related inflow of fresh water an