Assessment of Wetland Invertebrate and Fish Biodiversity for the Gnangara Sustainability Strategy (Gss)
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ASSESSMENT OF WETLAND INVERTEBRATE AND FISH BIODIVERSITY FOR THE GNANGARA SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY (GSS) Bea Sommer, Pierre Horwitz and Pauline Hewitt Centre for Ecosystem Management Edith Cowan University, Joondalup WA 6027 Final Report to the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation November 2008 Assessment of wetland invertebrate and fish biodiversity for the GSS (Final Report) November 2008 This document has been commissioned/produced as part of the Gnangara Sustainability Strategy (GSS). The GSS is a State Government initiative which aims to provide a framework for a whole of government approach to address land use and water planning issues associated with the Gnangara groundwater system. For more information go to www.gnangara.water.wa.gov.au i Assessment of wetland invertebrate and fish biodiversity for the GSS (Final Report) November 2008 Executive Summary This report sought to review existing sources of information for aquatic fauna on the Gnangara Mound in order to: • provide a synthesis of the richness, endemism, rarity and habitat specificity of aquatic invertebrates in wetlands; • identify gaps in aquatic invertebrate data on the Gnangara Mound; • provide a synthesis of the status of freshwater fishes on the Gnangara Mound; • assess the management options for the conservation of wetlands and wetland invertebrates. The compilation of aquatic invertebrate taxa recorded from wetlands on both the Gnangara Mound and Jandakot Mound) between 1977 and 2003, from 18 studies of 66 wetlands, has revealed a surprisingly high richness considering the comparatively small survey area and the degree of anthropogenic alteration of the plain. The total of over 550 taxa from 176 families or higher order taxonomic levels could be at least partially attributed to sampling effort. In addition, when compared to other regional surveys of wetland invertebrates, proportionate local and regional endemism appear relatively low for the survey area, and the proportion of rare taxa is also usually low. Overall it is proposed that levels of richness and endemism are attributable to geologically-recent colonizing forces associated with sea-level changes, dune formation and periods of aridity on the plain. Invertebrate colonization from multiple directions is possible: from the cooler southern, the warmer northern, and from the flowing and non-flowing wetlands on the adjacent Darling Scarp. Rare invertebrate taxa, on the other hand, appear to be associated with rare wetland types harbouring very specific (and perhaps unusual) microhabitats such as caves and tumulus springs. The work allows a re-evaluation of wetlands of importance on the Swan Coastal Plain. High priority wetlands with ‘significant’ invertebrate fauna in terms of aquatic invertebrate richness, endemism and/or rarity include: • aquatic habitats in a cave system in karstic areas around Yanchep; • permanent deeper surface waters in northern linear chain wetlands of the Spearwood interdunal system; • tumulus springs (organic mound springs) in the Ellen Brook region of the eastern Gnangara mound; • surface waters in the Ellen Brook region of the eastern Gnangara mound; and • habitat complexes in large shallow wetland systems on the Bassendean Dune system. For habitat specificity, invertebrate data for 16 regularly monitored wetlands on the Gnangara Mound analysed for their frequency of occurrence in 16 different vegetation communities (as a surrogate for ‘habitat’) revealed the following generalities: • most invertebrates were found in most habitats, and most vegetation types had similar invertebrate assemblages, suggesting relatively little habitat specificity; • richness of invertebrates was related to sampling effort, not necessarily to habitat type; i Assessment of wetland invertebrate and fish biodiversity for the GSS (Final Report) November 2008 • very few taxa showed some degree of habitat specificity; • pattern analyses showed that the eastern Bassendean wetlands formed outliers in terms of both the vegetation communities sampled and their invertebrate assemblages. The Moore River – Gingin Brook region appears as a significant biogeographical boundary for inland aquatic fauna and this boundary may require specific management attention or more detailed surveying to search for faunal elements thought now to be either or both locally endemic or regionally extinct. These analyses have also highlighted a relative lack of invertebrate data from wetlands on the northeastern portion of the Gnangara Mound and immediately north of the Moore River – Gingin boundary, particularly wetlands that might conform to ‘high priority’ designation as above. As a result, strategic sampling was carried out in September at three locations in this region: Lake Bambum, Yeal Lake and Quin Brook. The wetlands appear to have an ‘average’ aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblage (including some species with restricted distribution), however they are severely nutrient-enriched and weed-infested. These 3 wetlands have now been added to Gnangara Mound Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Program (EPA Section 46) and will be monitored biannually. For the fish of inland waters, 8 native species were known to occur in the area encompassed by the Gnangara Sustainability Strategy. Two of them may now be regionally extinct (Nannatherina balstoni (Balston’s pygmy perch) and Geotria australis (lamprey)); two more are restricted and vulnerable (Galaxiella nigrostriata (black striped minnow) and Galaxiella munda (mud minnow)). Threats to fish populations from introduced species such as Gambusia holbrooki and Geophagus brasilensis and several others may be as severe as, and compound, other changes to habitat loss such as water regime change. Given the widespread and pervasive nature of hydrological change and habitat loss and degradation on the Gnangara Mound, any wetland harbouring a population of native freshwater fish should be regarded as having a high management priority. Wetland management scenarios with regards to declining water levels often depend on the types of sediments present. Wetlands supporting nutrient-rich detrital floc will tend to become eutrophic if they dry, wetlands with pyrtic peat will tend to acidify. Where both sediment types coexist, the buffering properties of the floc will tend to override, at least temporarily (and especially where the floc is a calcareous one), the oxidative effects of the peat. Artificial augmentation of surface water as a management tool (by reinstating anaerobia in the sediments) can reverse the effects of drawdown-induced acidification and lead to recovery of macroinvertebrate community structure. The Lake Jandabup case has demonstrated that although successful at reversing the effects of acidification, artificial augmentation will inevitably change the system in another direction. In addition, it will constitute an ongoing effort, will use a valuable resource relatively inefficiently, and will exacerbate, not address, the root causes of the problem, namely over-extraction of water and declining rainfall. The ‘Wetland Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Program of the Gnangara Mound Environmental Monitoring Project’ which has been running since 1996, was able to detect biological indicators of change in three wetlands affected by drought-induced acidification, but only after the changes had occurred; it was not able to pick up early warning physico-chemical indicators which, if acted upon, may have prevented some of the biological changes from occurring. The long-term goal of identifying site-specific thresholds of change, can only be ii Assessment of wetland invertebrate and fish biodiversity for the GSS (Final Report) November 2008 achieved once environmental parameters are available that can be better linked to the macroinvertebrate fauna. Artificial supplementation can be appropriate under certain circumstances (as the successful example of Lake Jandabup has shown). However, one must be very aware that such a management strategy is trying to solve one problem whilst exacerbating another. Because of this, wetland supplementation schemes in Perth should be supported by somewhat more rigorous scientific backing than they appear to be at the present time. iii Assessment of wetland invertebrate and fish biodiversity for the GSS (Final Report) November 2008 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 The status of wetland invertebrates on the Gnangara Mound.................................... 1 1.3 Objectives................................................................................................................... 2 2. Wetland invertebrate richness and endemism (Objective 1).............................................. 3 2.1 Methods...................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Results and discussion.............................................................................................. 12 3. Invertebrate habitat specificity (Objective 2)................................................................... 25 3.1 Methods.................................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Results and discussion.............................................................................................