Regional-scale effects of flow regulation on lowland riverine fish communities in New South Wales, Australia

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 369-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.C. Gehrke ◽  
J.H. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Scale Effects ◽  
New South ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Fish Communities ◽  
Flow Regulation ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Riverine Fish

Shallow groundwater dynamics in smectite dominated clay on the Liverpool Plains of New South Wales

Soil Research ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 203 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Timms ◽  
R. I. Acworth ◽  
D. Berhane
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Shallow Groundwater ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Aquifer Systems ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Shallow Groundwater System

Dynamic shallow (<5 m) groundwater levels are an important indicator of water and salt fluxes in smectite-dominated clay on the Liverpool Plains in north-eastern New South Wales. Previous hydrogeological assessments of shallow groundwater related salinity risk have focused on regional scale distribution and interaction with rising pressure levels in confined aquifer systems. In this study, groundwater levels over a 7-year period for the saline Yarramanbah subcatchment are presented, along with data from 60 new and existing shallow piezometers and precise elevation surveying and intensive automated monitoring at selected sites. The shallow groundwater system is shown to respond to recharge; however, over the medium-term it is in hydrologic balance, with no evidence of increased water storage. A proportion of recharge is lost by discharge into deeply incised surface channels. Groundwater salinity in the banks of Warrah Creek indicate that flushing of salts from clay is related to increased flux of fresh water. Concern exists that there may be increased salt export from the catchment. If this is in fact occurring while the plains are in hydrologic equilibrium, then increased salt fluxes must be related to factors other than rising groundwater levels.

scholarly journals Floodplain Inhabitation: A Socio-Spatial Resilience Network

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rebecca Boyle
Keyword(s):  
Flood Control ◽  
New South ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
City Council ◽  
Flood Mitigation ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Spatial Resilience ◽  
South Wales

<p>The inadequacy of current approaches to managing floodplain inhabitation was highlighted in the 2010-11 Queensland, northern New South Wales and Victorian floods; the most costly floods in Australia’s history. Despite technological advancements and the prevalence of flood mitigation infrastructure, floods continue to have widespread adverse physical, social, economic, and emotional impacts. This situation is mirrored internationally and is anticipated to worsen as scientists predict an increase in the severity and prevalence of natural disasters such as flooding. In response to this, management of floodplain inhabitation must shift from flood prevention to adaptation. Adaptation is a key term in ecological resilience, defined as the capacity of a system to adapt and persist in the face of disturbance (Holling 1976). Hendstra et al (2004) suggests that in the context of disaster-resilient cities, resilience can be defined as the “capacity to adapt to stress from hazards and the ability to recover quickly from their impacts” (Henstra, Kovacs, McBean, & Sweeting, 2004, p. 5). Analysis of ecosystems reveals that interdependence across scales, variety, redundancy, adaptability and feedback are the key resilience principles enabling the system to adapt and maintain stability during flooding. At present there is a sparsity of literature exploring spatial resilience approaches to improving floodplain inhabitation. Whilst amphibious approaches improve individual resilience, there is a lack of innovative solutions to improve community and city resilience to flooding. Resilience approaches have the potential to reduce safety concerns, financial losses and the emotional stress associated with residing on Australian floodplains. Such approaches acknowledge the interconnected nature of riverine floodplains and their inhabitants. However resilience principles need to be given a physical spatial function within specific social contexts. Architecture provides a platform to test new and retrofit adaptable approaches to promote a more suitable spatial relationship with the river. This thesis will take the theory and literature of resilience and apply it to a site-specific spatial context: Maitland. Maitland city is built on one of the most flood prone regions in New South Wales (Keys, 1999). Despite the Hunter Valley Flood Mitigation Scheme, which consists of 170 kilometers of levees and flood control structures, flooding continues to occur in and around Maitland. Regardless of these flood risks, Maitland City Council is proposing large scale residential development on the floodplain to encourage population increase. Maitland will be used as the primary case study for investigating the opportunities socio-spatial resilience interventions have for improving the longterm inhabitation of the floodplain. This thesis proposes a multi-scaled approach to examine flood hazard and exposure at the individual, community, city and regional scale. As spatial designers it is imperative that architects play a part in this explorative process</p>

scholarly journals Floodplain Inhabitation: A Socio-Spatial Resilience Network

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rebecca Boyle
Keyword(s):  
Flood Control ◽  
New South ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
City Council ◽  
Flood Mitigation ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Spatial Resilience ◽  
South Wales

<p>The inadequacy of current approaches to managing floodplain inhabitation was highlighted in the 2010-11 Queensland, northern New South Wales and Victorian floods; the most costly floods in Australia’s history. Despite technological advancements and the prevalence of flood mitigation infrastructure, floods continue to have widespread adverse physical, social, economic, and emotional impacts. This situation is mirrored internationally and is anticipated to worsen as scientists predict an increase in the severity and prevalence of natural disasters such as flooding. In response to this, management of floodplain inhabitation must shift from flood prevention to adaptation. Adaptation is a key term in ecological resilience, defined as the capacity of a system to adapt and persist in the face of disturbance (Holling 1976). Hendstra et al (2004) suggests that in the context of disaster-resilient cities, resilience can be defined as the “capacity to adapt to stress from hazards and the ability to recover quickly from their impacts” (Henstra, Kovacs, McBean, & Sweeting, 2004, p. 5). Analysis of ecosystems reveals that interdependence across scales, variety, redundancy, adaptability and feedback are the key resilience principles enabling the system to adapt and maintain stability during flooding. At present there is a sparsity of literature exploring spatial resilience approaches to improving floodplain inhabitation. Whilst amphibious approaches improve individual resilience, there is a lack of innovative solutions to improve community and city resilience to flooding. Resilience approaches have the potential to reduce safety concerns, financial losses and the emotional stress associated with residing on Australian floodplains. Such approaches acknowledge the interconnected nature of riverine floodplains and their inhabitants. However resilience principles need to be given a physical spatial function within specific social contexts. Architecture provides a platform to test new and retrofit adaptable approaches to promote a more suitable spatial relationship with the river. This thesis will take the theory and literature of resilience and apply it to a site-specific spatial context: Maitland. Maitland city is built on one of the most flood prone regions in New South Wales (Keys, 1999). Despite the Hunter Valley Flood Mitigation Scheme, which consists of 170 kilometers of levees and flood control structures, flooding continues to occur in and around Maitland. Regardless of these flood risks, Maitland City Council is proposing large scale residential development on the floodplain to encourage population increase. Maitland will be used as the primary case study for investigating the opportunities socio-spatial resilience interventions have for improving the longterm inhabitation of the floodplain. This thesis proposes a multi-scaled approach to examine flood hazard and exposure at the individual, community, city and regional scale. As spatial designers it is imperative that architects play a part in this explorative process</p>

Distribution and Floristics of Terricolous Lichens in Soil Crusts in Arid and Semi-Arid New South Wales, Australia

1996 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 581 ◽  
Author(s):  
DJ Eldridge
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Poor Predictor ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Terricolous Lichens ◽  
Landscape Types ◽  
Semi Arid

This paper examines the distribution of terricolous lichens at a regional scale across seven landscape types over 60 000 km2 in western New South Wales. Data are also presented on the distribution of lichens within a geomorphic sequence of runoff and runon zones on a red earth soil near Cobar. On a regional scale, 48 taxa from 23 genera were collected from 282 sites in semi-arid and arid eastern Australia, Of these, 74% were crustose or squamulose, and the remainder (26%) were foliose. Six genera (Acarospora, Endocarpon, Catapyrenium, Diploschistes, Peltula and Xanthoparmelia) accounted for 57% of species. Landscape type was a poor predictor of lichen floristics or crust cover. Instead, a core group of species comprising Collema coccophorum, Heppia despreauxii, Endocarpon rogersii, E. simplicatum var. bisporum, E. pallidum, Psora decipiens, Peltula patellata ssp. australiensis, Catapyrenium squamulosum and Synalissa symphorea, occurred in all landscape types. Plains with red earths had the greatest mean number of species per site (11.2) and the greatest mean crust cover (27.7%). Plains of calcareous earths yielded the greatest number of species (38). Across all sites, crust cover was a poor predictor of lichen species richness. However, on landscape types with non-calcareous soils, mean crust cover explained 88% of the variation in mean number of species. Whilst there was no difference in total number of species across a sequence of geomorphic zones, crust cover was significantly greater in the interception zones (79.0%) compared with either the run-on (6.6%) or run-off (24.0%) zones. These distributional data are compared with other published and unpublished studies from similar areas in Australia. The role of terricolous crusts as indicators of ecosystem health, and the influence of land management on crust cover and subsequent landscape stability are discussed.

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