Novel Methods for Managing Freshwater Refuges Against Climate Change in Southern Australia
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Novel methods for managing freshwater refuges against climate change in southern Australia Supporting document 1: Evaluating the utility of cold-water releases (“shandying”) for enhancing the resilience of riverine species Courtney R. Cummings, Ty G. Matthews and Rebecca E. Lester NOVEL METHODS FOR MANAGING FRESHWATER REFUGES AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE IN SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA SUPPORTING DOCUMENT 1: Evaluating the utility of cold-water releases (“shandying”) for enhancing the resilience of riverine species AUTHORS Courtney R. Cummings – Deakin University Ty G. Matthews – Deakin University Rebecca E. Lester – Deakin University Published by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility 2013 ISBN: 978-1-925039-51-1 NCCARF Publication 80/13 Australian copyright law applies. For permission to reproduce any part of this document, please approach the authors. Please cite this report as: Cummings, CR, Matthews, TG & Lester, RE 2013, Novel methods for managing freshwater refuges against climate change in southern Australia. Supporting Document 1: Evaluating the utility of cold-water releases (“shandying”) for enhancing the resilience of riverine species, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, 74 pp. Acknowledgement This work was carried out with financial support from the Australian Government (through the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and the National Water Commission) and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF). The role of NCCARF is to lead the research community in a national interdisciplinary effort to generate the information needed by decision-makers in government, business and in vulnerable sectors and communities to manage the risk of climate change impacts. Disclaimer The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Commonwealth or NCCARF, and neither the Commonwealth nor NCCARF accept responsibility for information or advice contained herein. Cover image: © Ty Matthews Table of contents ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................2 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................7 1.1 Changes in water temperatures under climate change ....................................... 7 1.2 Importance of temperature for the maintenance of structure and function in lotic ecosystems ...............................................................................................9 1.3 Water Quality .....................................................................................................10 1.4 Plants and phytoplankton ..................................................................................10 1.5 Invertebrates ......................................................................................................11 1.6 Fish ....................................................................................................................12 1.7 Ecosystem Processes........................................................................................12 1.7.1 Leaf litter processing ..........................................................................................13 1.7.2 Metabolism ........................................................................................................13 2. THERMAL REFUGES FOR STREAM BIOTA ..................................................15 3. THERMAL IMPACTS OF HYPOLIMNETIC RELEASES ..................................17 4. TEMPERATURE TOLERANCE LIMITS OF FRESHWATER BIOTA ............... 18 4.1 Plants and Algae ................................................................................................19 4.2 Invertebrates ......................................................................................................19 4.3 Fish ....................................................................................................................19 4.3.1 Adults .................................................................................................................23 4.3.2 Eggs ...................................................................................................................23 4.3.3 Larvae ................................................................................................................23 4.3.4 Relationships between in-stream temperatures and key aquatic organisms ..... 24 4.4 Ecosystem Processes........................................................................................27 5. CASE STUDIES USING COLD-WATER RELEASES TO PROTECT FRESHWATER FISH ........................................................................................28 5.1 Potential use of planned cold-water releases to support a tailwater trout fishery in the Smith River, USA ..........................................................................28 5.2 Modelling potential effects of dam removal and retrofitting hypolimnetic off-takes on steelhead recruitment in the Manistee River, USA ........................ 29 5.3 Planned mitigation of cold-water releases and the potential impacts on a recreational brown trout fishery - an Australian example ................................... 29 6. THERMAL REGIMES OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA: EXAMPLES USING VICTORIAN DAMS ...............................................................................33 6.1 High Priority Dams in Victoria ............................................................................34 6.1.1 Dartmouth Dam .................................................................................................34 6.1.2 Malmsbury Reservoir .........................................................................................34 6.1.3 Tullaroop, Cairn Curran and Laanecoorie Reservoirs ....................................... 35 6.2 Lower Priority Dams in Victoria ..........................................................................36 6.2.1 Lal Lal Reservoir ................................................................................................36 6.2.2 Thomson Dam ...................................................................................................36 6.3 Summary of findings ..........................................................................................37 7. CAPACITY FOR HYPOLIMNETIC RELEASES IN SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA ......................................................................................................41 SD1: Evaluating the utility of cold-water releases iii 8. CURRENT MANAGEMENT AWARENESS OF HYPOLIMNETIC RELEASES ....................................................................................................... 43 8.1 What are the current attitudes to/awareness of hypolimnetic releases? ........... 43 8.2 Is anyone considering the technique? ............................................................... 44 9. POTENTIAL SCENARIOS FOR MANAGEMENT ............................................ 45 1. To mimic natural thermal regimes ................................................................. 45 2. To reduce frequency and duration of high thermal temperature events ........ 45 3. To facilitate movement and migration of fish between thermal refuges (or tributaries) during critical life-cycle stages ................................................... 46 10. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AUSTRALIAN STREAMS ......................................................................................................... 47 APPENDIX 1 ................................................................................................................. 52 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 62 iv SD1: Evaluating the utility of cold-water releases List of figures Figure 1. Biological information and thermal regimes for Murray Cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii) overlying two thermal regimes that represent temperature profiles above and below Lake Hume Dam.. ................................. 25 Figure 2. Biological information and typical thermal regime for river blackfish (Gadopsis marmoratus) overlying the thermal regimes for Lardners Creek, which is an unregulated tributary on the Gellibrand River, south-west Victoria. ..............................................................................................................26 Figure 3. Thermal regime showing the number of days when in-stream temperatures exceeded 21°C above and below Dartmouth Dam...................... 34 Figure 4. Thermal regime showing the number of days when in-stream temperatures exceeded 21°C above and below Malmsbury reservoir and an adjacent unregulated location on the Campaspe River ................................ 35 Figure 5. Thermal regime showing the number of days when in-stream temperatures exceeded 21°C at stations associated with Tullaroop, Cairn Curran and Laanecoorie reservoir systems .......................................................35 Figure 6. Thermal regime showing the number of days when in-stream temperatures exceeded 21°C above and below Lal Lal reservoir ..................... 36 Figure 7. Thermal regime showing the number of days when in-stream temperatures exceeded 21°C above and below Thomson Dam ....................... 37 Figure 8. Mean (±SD) maximum monthly water temperature for Dartmouth Dam, Malmsbury