Hydro-ecological relationships and thresholds
Electrofishing Mary River near Miva: Photo S Mackay
- Client:
- National Water Commission
This project is funded under the Raising National Water Standards Program administered by the National Water Commission and will contribute to improved environmental water management and planning through a set of tangible, science-based outcomes.
Project Category: Applied Research
Key Areas of Work: Ecosystem health and river restoration
Aims and objectives
The Hydro-ecological relationships and thresholds project analyses the response of riverine assets to flows that have been altered as a result of infrastructure development such as dams. The project, taking place in South East Queensland, will also establish a hydrologic classification framework for rivers in the region to assist in maximising environmental water provision.
The research is testing elements of the internationally developed Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) framework. (1)
Project outcomes will help determine environmental flow provisions and river health monitoring requirements in the region, provide practical advice and guidance for water managers and planners, and support adaptive environmental water management practices.
Activities undertaken
The project team is undertaking extensive field research - collecting ecological data from all rivers in the region to analyse fish, riparian and aquatic vegetation response to altered flow regimes. Additionally, the team is identifying the ecological thresholds and flow variables that together, determine the health of sites within each river system.
A synthesis of existing flow-response knowledge for each ecological asset is underway and will determine relevant hypotheses against which to analyse the collected data.
One of the project’s quantitative outcomes will be improved knowledge of how different rivers in South East Queensland (and therefore riverine ecology) respond to low, medium and high levels of flow alteration.
Stakeholder engagement is critical to the success of the project and is being undertaken through direct consultation, steering committee representation, conference presentations, postgraduate engagement and scientific journal submissions.
Project benefits
The practical advice resulting from the project will assist stakeholders to better understand and manage flow-ecology relationships and thresholds in South East Queensland rivers. The outcomes will support adaptive management processes and improve decisions and management of environmental water provision. The rich ecological and hydrological datasets compiled by the project team will underpin ongoing research and modelling activities in collaboration with DERM, and will contribute to national and international scientific knowledge.
Consortium partners
The project is being undertaken by the International WaterCentre in collaboration with the Australian Rivers Institute (ARI) at Griffith University. The ARI project team, led by Professor Angela Arthington, is working in collaboration with DERM and hydrological data is being supplied by DERM, Seqwater and private organisations.
Timelines
The project commenced in January 2008 and is expected to conclude in December 2010.
(1) Arthington et al. 2006, Ecological Applications 16; Poff et al 2010, Freshwater Biology 55
Project Location: Inland Queensland and New South Wales, Australia
