Adapting to climate change: a risk assessment and decision framework for managing groundwater dependent ecosystems with declining water levels.

Funded by: Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency via the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (category 1 funds)

Project description:

The potential impacts of a drying climate on freshwater ecosystems in Australia are alarming. In many regions, competition for water resources between humans and the environment presents a challenge for environmental managers. This is because of a complex array of factors, including climate change and human activity, which interact to impact our freshwater ecosystems. This project will develop and test a risk assessment and decision-making tool for managing groundwater dependent wetlands and caves with climate change and other stressors. Maps will illustrate the distribution of risk to wetlands and caves across specific catchments, resulting from present and future climate change, and from water resource use by humans. The tool will combine water quality and ecological components to identify the level of risk from declining water levels across a catchment. It will help environmental managers adapt to climate change at the local, landscape and catchment scales by identifying sites of high ecosystem value, including species and communities at risk. The tool will be tested in south-western Australia, a global biodiversity hotspot and one of the earliest regions impacted by climate change. It will then be modified to help manage groundwater dependent ecosystems across Australia.

Chief Investigator: Dr Jane Chambers

Research Team: Murdoch University: Jane Chambers, Mirela Tulbure, Belinda Robson, Stephen Beatty, David Morgan, Tom Lyons, Stacey Chilcott

Edith Cowan University: Ray Froend, Pierre Horwitz, Bea Sommer

University of Western Australia: Peter Davies, Paul Close, Barbara Cook, Peter Speldewinde, Nicola Mitchell

Subterranean Ecology Pty Ltd: Stefan Eberhard

WA Department of Water: Frances D'Souza, Fiona Lynn, Mike Baimbridge

WA Department of Environment and Conservation: Adrian Pinder, Melita Pennifold

CSIRO: Data and advice provided by Don McFarlane, Richard Silberstein, Kevin Petrone, Olga Barron, Geoff Hodgson.

Ecological condition of the Vasse Wonnerup wetlands: 2006-2011

Funded by: Geographe (GeoCatch) and South West Catchment Councils through funds from WA State NRM, Australian Government's Coastal Catchment Initiative, the WA Department of Water, State and Commonwealth contributions to the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP) and the National Heritage Trust.

Project description:

The Vasse Wonnerup wetlands are an extensive, shallow, nutrient enriched system with wide-ranging salinities. The wetlands support tens of thousands of resident and migrant waterbirds and the largest regular breeding colony of Black Swan in south-western Australia, and as such became listed as a Ramsar wetland in 1990. Many waterbirds, particularly the black swans, are dependent either directly or indirectly on aquatic plants for food. Therefore an understanding of how water quality affects plant type and abundance is integral to the conservation and management of the waterbirds, as well as maintaining the ecological health of the wetlands. Snapshot surveys have been carried out each November between 2006 and 2011 and in February in 2009 and 2010 incorporating monitoring of water quality, sediments, submerged aquatic flora (phytoplankton, macroalgae and macrophytes) and macroinvertebrates. In 2011, this project will be extended to include fish in a collaboration with the Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research at Murdoch University.

Chief Investigator: Dr Jane Chambers

Research Team: Murdoch University: Marine and Freshwater Research Laboratory (Celeste Wilson, Krzysztof Wienczugow), Mirela Tulbure

WA Department of Environment and Conservation: Alan Clarke

University of Western Australia: Cristina Ramahlo

Publications reporting on surveys on the Vasse Wonnerup Wetlands from 2006 to present are available on the publications page.

For further information please see the student projects page.