Analytical and statistical approaches to study the impacts of shoreline change towards mangroves at Kukup Island National Park, Johor

Abstract

Shoreline and mangroves form a dynamic ecosystem to coastal area. They support and supply various foods and protections to ensure the sustainability of coastal ecosystem around the world. Despite these, information that exclusively emphasize on the interaction of shoreline change and mangroves on an island is still lacking, making assessment and observation towards coastal areas on island less significant. Hence, this study is significant to provide a first view of the interaction and the relationship and response of shorelines change towards mangrove physical characteristics. GIS, remote sensing as well as statistical analysis such as DSAS and linear regression were applied to support the study that consisted of three main stages which involve data collection, data processing and comparison of mangroves physical characteristics towards the changes in shoreline positions. Finding revealed that during the time span of 2005-2011, shoreline near to Sg Ular has experienced more erosion, resulted in the shoreline shifting that was ranged between -0.02 m/y and -1.52 m/y. Further analysis of shoreline change and mangroves physical characteristic unveiled that a significant relationship of mangrove characteristics and shoreline changes rates occurred at Sg Ular. It was found that mangroves communities along the shoreline of Sg Ular was negatively influenced by the shoreline change, possibly due to mild erosion along the shoreline towards the river mouth of Sg Ular.