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A Review of the Relationships Between Flow and Waterbird Ecology in the Condamine-Balonne and Barwon-Darling River Systems

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A Review of the Relationships Between Flow and Waterbird Ecology in the Condamine-Balonne and Barwon-Darling River Systems A review of the relationships between flow and waterbird ecology in the Condamine-Balonne and Barwon-Darling River Systems K.J. Brandis and G. Bino, Centre for Ecosystem Science, University of New South Wales Published by the Murray‒Darling Basin Authority Postal Address: GPO Box 1801, Canberra ACT 2601 Telephone: (02) 6279 0100 international + 61 2 6279 0100 Facsimile: (02) 6248 8053 international + 61 2 6248 8053 Email: [email protected] Internet: http://www.mdba.gov.au MDBA publication no.: [insert MDBA publication no of publication] ISBN (print): [insert ISBN Number of print version of publication] ISBN (online): [insert ISBN Number of online version of publication] All material and work produced by the Murray‒Darling Basin Authority constitutes Commonwealth copyright. MDBA reserves the right to set out the terms and conditions for the use of such material. With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, photographs, the Murray‒Darling Basin Authority logo or other logos and emblems, any material protected by a trade mark, any content provided by third parties, and where otherwise noted, all material presented in this publication is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au © Murray‒Darling Basin Authority [insert publication year]. The Murray‒Darling Basin Authority’s preference is that you attribute this publication (and any Murray‒Darling Basin Authority material sourced from it) using the following wording within your work: Title: A review of the relationships between flow and waterbird ecology in the Condamine-Balonne and Barwon-Darling River Systems. Source: Licensed from the Murray‒Darling Basin Authority under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence As far as practicable, material for which the copyright is owned by a third party will be clearly labelled. The Murray‒ Darling Basin Authority has made all reasonable efforts to ensure that this material has been reproduced in this publication with the full consent of the copyright owners. Inquiries regarding the licence and any use of this publication are welcome by contacting the Murray‒Darling Basin Authority. Cover image: [Clear Lake, Narran Lakes Nature Reserve (K. Brandis)] Disclaimer To the extent permitted by law, the Murray‒Darling Basin Authority and the Commonwealth excludes all liability to any person for any consequences, including but not limited to all losses, damages, costs, expenses and any other compensation, arising directly or indirectly from using this report (in part or in whole) and any information or material contained within it. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Key findings ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................................... 7 BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE AND DATASETS ........................................................................................... 11 Waterbird breeding in the Condamine-Balonne and Barwon-Darling River systems ................................... 14 The distribution and species diversity of waterbirds in the Condamine-Balonne and Barwon-Darling River systems .......................................................................................................................................................... 26 Flow and waterbird breeding responses in the Condamine-Balonne and Barwon-Darling River systems ...... 39 ASSUMPTION 1: THAT ENVIRONMENTAL WATER REQUIREMENTS FOR COLONIAL WATERBIRD BREEDING (WHICH HAVE LONGER DURATION BREEDING WATER REQUIREMENTS) SATISFY THE BREEDING REQUIREMENTS OF OTHER WATERBIRDS. ........................................................................................................ 41 Colonial waterbird breeding requirements ................................................................................................... 41 Non-colonial waterbird breeding requirements ........................................................................................... 44 Succession of breeding .................................................................................................................................. 46 Interbreeding periods .................................................................................................................................... 46 Waterbird responses to flow ......................................................................................................................... 48 Botaurus poiciloptilus ................................................................................................................................ 48 Flow characteristics and waterbird responses at Narran Lakes .................................................................... 51 Summary: Assumption 1 ............................................................................................................................... 66 Recommendations regarding flow requirements for waterbird ecological targets.......................................... 66 ASSUMPTION 2: THAT ENVIRONMENTAL WATER REQUIREMENTS FOR NATIVE RIPARIAN, FLOODPLAIN AND WETLAND VEGETATION HAVE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS ON LIFE-CYCLE AND HABITAT REQUIREMENTS FOR WATERBIRDS. .................................................................................................................................................... 69 Summary Assumption 2 ................................................................................................................................ 75 IDENTIFIED KNOWLEDGE GAPS ......................................................................................................................... 77 3 Changes in vegetation distribution and structure ......................................................................................... 80 Future Research ............................................................................................................................................. 82 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................................... 83 Appendix A Attendees at the Waterbird Workshop, UNSW, Sydney, 28th August, 2015. ................................ 87 Appendix B Records of waterbird breeding at Narran Lake and Narran Lakes Nature Reserve 1971-2014. ... 88 Appendix C Site specific ecological targets for Narran Lakes, Lower Balonne and Barwon-Darling upstream of Menindee .......................................................................................................................................................... 99 Appendix D Total waterbird abundance at each wetland in the Talyawalka Ananbranch and Teryaweynya Creek system 1983-2013 (Source: Australian Waterbird Survey). .................................................................. 103 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive Summary One of the key requirements of the Basin Plan is to establish Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDLs), which are the maximum long–term annual average volumes of water that can be taken from the Basin that represents an Environmentally Sustainable Level of Take (ESLT) (MDBA 2012). When finalising the Basin Plan in 2012 the Murray-Darling Basin Authority committed to conducting research and investigations into aspects of the Basin Plan in the Northern Basin, including the basis for the SDLS. This new research comprises an environmental science program, social economic assessments and water recovery modelling, which is referred to as the Northern Basin Review. The aim of the environmental science program is to implement a series of research projects and review other information to ensure the best available scientific knowledge can be used to review the environmental water requirements for the Condamine-Balonne and Barwon- Darling River systems. This project carried out a knowledge review of the relationships between flow and waterbird ecology to inform the review of environmental watering requirements in the Condamine-Balonne and Barwon-Darling River systems. The objectives of the project were: 1) Develop conceptual models of the causal relationships between flow and waterbird ecology for the Condamine-Balonne and Barwon-Darling River systems that test the two key MDBA assumptions that informed the assessment of the ESLT. 2) Identify locally and regionally important waterbird breeding locations within the Condamine- Balonne and Barwon-Darling River systems. 3) Synthesize current knowledge of the relationships between flow and waterbird ecology relevant to locally and regionally important waterbird locations within Condamine-Balonne and Barwon-Darling River systems. The two key MDBA assumptions are: the environmental water requirements for colonial nesting waterbird breeding (which have longer duration breeding water requirements) would satisfy the breeding requirements of
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