Citizen science implements the first intensive acoustics-based survey of insectivorous bat species across the Murray–Darling Basin of South Australia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle N. Armstrong ◽  
Sylvia Clarke ◽  
Aimee Linke ◽  
Annette Scanlon ◽  
Philip Roetman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Murray Darling Basin

scholarly journals Watching the tide roll away – contested interpretations of the nature of the Lower Lakes of the Murray Darling Basin

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A. Gell
Keyword(s):  
Sea Water ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Ramsar Convention ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
Murray Darling Basin ◽  
Entire History ◽  
Variable Condition ◽  
Consumptive Water ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Management Challenge

The Murray Darling Basin Plan (Murray Darling Basin Authority 2012) represents the largest investment by government in an Australian environmental management challenge and remains highly conflicted owing to the contested allocation of diminishing water resources. Central to the decision to reallocate consumptive water to environmental purposes in this Plan was the case made to maintain the freshwater character of two lakes at the terminus of the Murray Darling Basin, in South Australia. This freshwater state was identified as the natural condition on the basis of selected anecdotal evidence and was enshrined in the site’s listing under the Ramsar Convention. The commitment to the freshwater state was challenged under drought when sea water was seen as a means of averting acidification when low river flows risked the exposure of sulfidic sediments. Independent evidence from water quality indicators (diatoms) preserved in lake sediment records, however, attested to an estuarine, albeit variable, condition before the commissioning of near-mouth barrages in 1940. This interpretation for a naturally estuarine history, published after peer review, was overlooked in a report to the South Australian government, which argued, without the provision of new evidence from the lakes, that they were fresh for their entire history. This revised interpretation is widely cited in the scientific literature, government reports and online discussion and underpins a watering strategy aimed at a freshwater future for the Lower Lakes. The allocation of large volumes of fresh water to achieve this condition presents significant difficulties owing to the highly contested nature of water use across the Basin.

scholarly journals Four new species of parasitoid wasp (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) described through a citizen science partnership with schools in regional South Australia

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4949 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-101
Author(s):  
ERINN P. FAGAN-JEFFRIES ◽  
ANDREW D. AUSTIN
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Parasitoid Wasp ◽  
Dna Barcodes ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Public ◽  
Taxonomic Research ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Citizen Science Project

Involving the community in taxonomic research has the potential to increase the awareness, appreciation and value of taxonomy in the public sphere. We report here on a trial citizen science project, Insect Investigators, which partners taxonomists with school students to monitor Malaise traps and prioritise the description of new species collected. In this initial trial, four schools in regional South Australia participated in the program and all collected new species of the braconid subfamily Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). These four species are here described as new, with the names being chosen in collaboration with the participating school students: Choeras ramcomarmorata Fagan-Jeffries & Austin sp. nov., Glyptapanteles drioplanetus Fagan-Jeffries & Austin sp. nov., Dolichogenidea franklinharbourensis Fagan-Jeffries & Austin sp. nov. and Miropotes waikerieyeties Fagan-Jeffries & Austin sp. nov. All four species are diagnosed against the known members of the genera from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Papua New Guinea, and images and COI DNA barcodes are provided of the holotypes. Students had positive feedback about their experiences of the program, and there is significant potential for it to be expanded and used as a means to connect communities with taxonomic science. 

scholarly journals The predominantly fresh history of Lake Alexandrina, South Australia, and its implications for the Murray–Darling Basin Plan: a comment on Gell (2020)

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 142 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Tibby ◽  
Deborah Haynes ◽  
Kerri Muller
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Cores ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Minor Component ◽  
Environmental Water ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystem ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Murray Darling Basin ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
A Minor

The pre-European settlement state of Lake Alexandrina, a lake system at the mouth of the River Murray has been the subject of some debate. Fluin et al. (2007) concluded on the basis of diatom evidence from sediment cores that ‘Marine water indicators were never dominant in Lake Alexandrina’. In a report to the South Australian Government, Fluin et al. (2009) stated, consistent with the earlier research, that ‘There is no evidence in the 7000 year record of substantial marine incursions into Lake Alexandrina’. Gell (2020) has argued both that Fluin et al. (2009) is in error and claims that it, and Sim and Muller’s (2004) book that describes early European settler accounts of the lake being fresh, underpin water provisions for Lake Alexandrina under the Murray–Darling Basin Plan. This response demonstrates that all these claims are untrue. Of the three diatom species suggested by Gell (2020) to be indicators of marine waters, Thalassiosira lacustris grows in the freshwater River Murray today, Cyclotella striata was never more than a minor component of the diatom flora and Paralia sulcata has not been detected in the lake in over 3000 years. Water provisions for Lake Alexandrina under The Basin Plan are founded on contemporary environmental water requirements and achievement of agreed socio-ecological-economic objectives, rather than the history of the lake. Nevertheless, the aim to maintain the lake as a freshwater ecosystem under The Murray–Darling Basin Plan is consistent with its history.

Does lignum rely on a soil seed bank? Germination and reproductive phenology of Muehlenbeckia florulenta (Polygonaceae)

2005 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Chong ◽  
Keith F. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Vegetative Growth ◽  
Soil Seed Bank ◽  
Seed Viability ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Reproductive Phenology ◽  
Continuous Darkness ◽  
Murray Darling Basin ◽  
Droughts And Floods ◽  
Viable Seeds ◽  
And Storage

Tangled lignum (‘lignum’) is a dioecious, multi-stemmed woody shrub that is common in flood-prone areas of inland Australia, including the Murray–Darling Basin. It is often leafless during dry periods, but maintains vegetative growth by stem layering, and responds rapidly to rainfall or flooding by production of shoots, leaves and flowers. This study considers the viability of lignum seeds (contained in achenes) under various conditions of temperature, light, moisture and storage or burial. The seeds are not innately dormant, and germinate within 14 days under ideal conditions. From 66 to 86% of fresh and dry-stored seeds germinate in fluctuating temperatures (15°C/5°C, 24°C/10°C, 31°C/15°C), and optimally at 24°C/10°C, given moisture and light. They also germinate in water (56% success), and remain buoyant for 5–25 days. Germination is inhibited by constant temperatures of 12 and 24°C (4.0–4.8% success) and continuous darkness (6.0–56.0% success), but increases on return to light. Seed viability is depressed by 10% after 70-day dry storage and by 48% after 92-day burial in soil over winter. In one year’s (2002) observations of a population on the River Murray floodplain near Morgan, South Australia, winter- and spring-seeding plants produced viable seeds 14–30 days after anthesis, and although rainfall in winter (July) produced a pulse of seedlings, none became established. Achenes were shed soon after maturation, but soil samples revealed very few germinable seeds. It therefore appears that the seeds do not persist for long on the mother plant or in the soil. The persistence of lignum in environments prone to erratic droughts and floods appears to depend mainly on its capacity to tolerate drought, maintain vegetative growth and respond quickly to watering.

scholarly journals Corrigendum to: Watching the tide roll away – contested interpretations of the nature of the Lower Lakes of the Murray Darling Basin

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 211
Author(s):  
Peter A. Gell
Keyword(s):  
Sea Water ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Ramsar Convention ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
Murray Darling Basin ◽  
Entire History ◽  
Variable Condition ◽  
Consumptive Water ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Management Challenge

The Murray Darling Basin Plan (Murray Darling Basin Authority 2012) represents the largest investment by government in an Australian environmental management challenge and remains highly conflicted owing to the contested allocation of diminishing water resources. Central to the decision to reallocate consumptive water to environmental purposes in this Plan was the case made to maintain the freshwater character of two lakes at the terminus of the Murray Darling Basin, in South Australia. This freshwater state was identified as the natural condition on the basis of selected anecdotal evidence and was enshrined in the site's listing under the Ramsar Convention. The commitment to the freshwater state was challenged under drought when sea water was seen as a means of averting acidification when low river flows risked the exposure of sulfidic sediments. Independent evidence from water quality indicators (diatoms) preserved in lake sediment records, however, attested to an estuarine, albeit variable, condition before the commissioning of near-mouth barrages in 1940. This interpretation for a naturally estuarine history, published after peer review, was overlooked in a report to the South Australian government, which argued, without the provision of new evidence from the lakes, that they were fresh for their entire history. This revised interpretation is widely cited in the scientific literature, government reports and online discussion and underpins a watering strategy aimed at a freshwater future for the Lower Lakes. The allocation of large volumes of fresh water to achieve this condition presents significant difficulties owing to the highly contested nature of water use across the Basin.

Linking water-resource models to ecosystem-response models to guide water-resource planning - an example from the Murray - Darling Basin, Australia

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca E. Lester ◽  
Ian T. Webster ◽  
Peter G. Fairweather ◽  
William J. Young
Keyword(s):  
Water Resource ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
South Australia ◽  
River System ◽  
Resource Planning ◽  
Ecosystem Response ◽  
Tight Coupling ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Murray Darling Basin

Objectively assessing ecological benefits of competing watering strategies is difficult. We present a framework of coupled models to compare scenarios, using the Coorong, the estuary for the Murray–Darling River system in South Australia, as a case study. The framework links outputs from recent modelling of the effects of climate change on water availability across the Murray–Darling Basin to a hydrodynamic model for the Coorong, and then an ecosystem-response model. The approach has significant advantages, including the following: (1) evaluating management actions is straightforward because of relatively tight coupling between impacts on hydrology and ecology; (2) scenarios of 111 years reveal the impacts of realistic climatic and flow variability on Coorong ecology; and (3) ecological impact is represented in the model by a series of ecosystem states, integrating across many organisms, not just iconic species. We applied the approach to four flow scenarios, comparing conditions without development, current water-use levels, and two predicted future climate scenarios. Simulation produced a range of hydrodynamic conditions and consequent distributions of ecosystem states, allowing managers to compare scenarios. This approach could be used with many climates and/or management actions for optimisation of flow delivery to environmental assets.

scholarly journals A geophysical analysis of Aboriginal earth mounds in the Murray River Valley, South Australia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Moffat ◽  
Dave Ross ◽  
Michael Morrison ◽  
Kleanthis Simyrdanis ◽  
Amy Roberts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Relative Effectiveness ◽  
Geophysical Methods ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Comparative Trial ◽  
Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Murray Darling Basin ◽  
Murray River ◽  
Repeated Use ◽  
Earth Oven

Earth mounds are common archaeological features in some regions of Australia, particularly within the Murray-Darling Basin. These features are generally considered to have formed via the repeated use of earth oven cookery methods employed by Aboriginal people during the mid- to late-Holocene. This study assesses the relative effectiveness of key geophysical methods including magnetometry, groundpenetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) in mapping, and determining the stratigraphy of earth mound sites. Three earth mounds adjacent to Hunchee Creek, on Calperum Station in South Australia's Riverland region, were chosen to conduct a comparative trial of these methods. This research demonstrated that geophysics can be used to both locate mounds and provide information as to deposit thickness and size. Individual ovens within mounds can also be located. This suggests a greater potential role for geophysics in understanding the Holocene archaeological record in Australia.

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