The critically endangered Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia ecological community (henceforth Littoral rainforest) represent a complex of rainforests and coastal vine thickets developed on beach ridges and on other coastally-influenced substrates.  Coastal processes such as salt spray, tidal inundation and storm tides, salt-laden on-shore winds and unstable and dynamic substrates derive this distinct ecological community.  Littoral rainforests in the Wet Tropics play a key role in buffering and protecting communities and infrastructure from the effects of climate change, particularly sea level rise and storm surges associated with extreme climatic events.  They are also dynamic communities, advancing into newly deposited substrates or retreating when conditions change. Thus, the community provides important ‘adaptation services’ reflecting the capacity of ecosystems to moderate climate change, and to adapt and transform in response to change.

We used high-resolution coastal LIDAR and hydrology models to identify the Littoral rainforest patches in the Wet Tropics that are most exposed to the effects of storm-surge, inundation and sea-level rise and to characterise the coastal areas at greatest risk from extreme events. Then, working with local communities and NRM Managers, we develop an adaptation pathway framework to assess and prioritise management options that explicitly consider the dynamic nature of the community and future change regimes.  We also highlight where traditional management practices are potentially maladaptive given future scenarios.  We use the adaptation services concept to enable a simplified framing of biophysical trajectories and adaptive landscapes for improved adaptation pathway planning.