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An assessment of Ramsar criteria and Limits of Acceptable Change for aquatic and littoral vegetation in the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Ramsar Wetland Jason Nicol SARDI Publication No. F2016/000262-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 910 SARDI Aquatics Sciences PO Box 120 Henley Beach SA 5022 August 2016 Nicol, J. (2016) Aquatic and Littoral Vegetation Report An assessment of Ramsar criteria and Limits of Acceptable Change for aquatic and littoral vegetation in the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Ramsar Wetland Jason Nicol SARDI Publication No. F2016/000262-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 910 August 2016 II Nicol, J. (2016) Aquatic and Littoral Vegetation Report This publication may be cited as: Nicol, J.M. (2016). An assessment of Ramsar criteria and Limits of Acceptable Change for aquatic and littoral vegetation in the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Ramsar Wetland. South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide. SARDI Publication No. F2016/000262-1. SARDI Research Report Series No. 910. 63pp. Cover Photo: Shoreline of Lake Alexandrina at Raukkan showing Phragmites australis, Typha domingensis and Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani (Regina Durbridge). South Australian Research and Development Institute SARDI Aquatic Sciences 2 Hamra Avenue West Beach SA 5024 Telephone: (08) 8207 5400 Facsimile: (08) 8207 5406 http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/research DISCLAIMER The authors warrant that they have taken all reasonable care in producing this report. The report has been through the SARDI internal review process, and has been formally approved for release by the Research Chief, Aquatic Sciences. Although all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure quality, SARDI does not warrant that the information in this report is free from errors or omissions. SARDI does not accept any liability for the contents of this report or for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed upon it. The SARDI Report Series is an Administrative Report Series which has not been reviewed outside the department and is not considered peer-reviewed literature. Material presented in these Administrative Reports may later be published in formal peer-reviewed scientific literature. © 2016 SARDI This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the copyright owner. Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission. Printed in Adelaide: August 2016 SARDI Publication No. F2016/000262-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 910 Author(s): Jason Nicol Reviewer(s): Susan Gehrig (SARDI) and Rebecca Quin (DEWNR) Approved by: Assoc. Prof. Qifeng Ye Science Leader – Inland Waters & Catchment Ecology Signed: Date: 19 August 2016 Distribution: DEWNR, SEWPAC, SAASC Library, SARDI Waite Executive Library, Parliamentary Library, State Library and National Library Circulation: Public Domain III Nicol, J. (2016) Aquatic and Littoral Vegetation Report TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ IV LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... V LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... VI LIST OF APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... VII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... VIII EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 3 1.1. Updating Ecological Character Description (ECD) content ........................................... 3 1.2. Datasets used to assess Ramsar criteria, change since listing, describe current ecological character and define and assess Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) ................... 4 1.3. Change in Coorong and Lakes vegetation since listing ................................................ 8 2. UPDATED CONTENT OF THE RAMSAR INFORMATION SHEET ...................................19 3. DEFINITION AND ASSESSMENT OF AQUATIC AND LITTORAL VEGETATION-RELATED CRITICAL COMPONENTS, PROCESSES AND SERVICES (CPS) AND LIMITS OF ACCEPTABLE CHANGE (LAC) ................................................................................................20 3.1. Vegetation related critical components, processes and services (CPS) ......................20 3.2. Limits of acceptable change for vegetation components, processes and services ......37 4. DISCUSSION OF LIMITS OF ACCEPTABLE CHANGE ASSESSMENTS AND CURRENT ECOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF THE WETLAND ...................................................................42 5. REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................45 APPENDICES ...........................................................................................................................57 IV Nicol, J. (2016) Aquatic and Littoral Vegetation Report LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Water levels in Goolwa Channel (upstream of Goolwa Barrage), Lake Alexandrina (Milang) and Lake Albert (Meningie) from January 2005 to June 2016 (Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources 2016), showing the water level LAC for the submergent and emergent vegetation CPS and samphire CPS. ...............................................11 Figure 2: Surface water electrical conductivity in Goolwa Channel (upstream of Goolwa Barrage), Lake Alexandrina (Milang) and Lake Albert (Meningie) from January 2005 to June 2016 (Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources 2016), showing the salinity LAC for the submergent vegetation CPS and samphire CPS. ................................................................12 Figure 2: Conceptual model showing the key external drivers, physico-chemical and biotic processes that determine the distribution and abundance of submergent freshwater plant communities in the Lakes. .........................................................................................................26 Figure 3: Conceptual model showing the key external drivers, physico-chemical and biotic processes that determine the distribution and abundance of emergent freshwater plant communities in the Lakes. .........................................................................................................31 Figure 4: Conceptual model showing the key external drivers, physico-chemical and biotic processes that determine the distribution and abundance of Melaleuca halmaturorum in the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Ramsar Wetland. ..................................................32 Figure 5: Conceptual model showing the key external drivers, physico-chemical and biotic processes that determine the distribution and abundance of samphire and saltmarsh communities in the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Ramsar Wetland. ........................................34 Figure 6: Conceptual model showing the key external drivers, physico-chemical and biotic processes that determine the distribution and abundance of Ruppia megacarpa in the Murray estuary and North Lagoon of the Coorong. ...............................................................................36 Figure 7: Conceptual model showing the key external drivers, physico-chemical and biotic processes that determine the distribution and abundance of Phragmites australis in the Coorong. .................................................................................................................................................37 V Nicol, J. (2016) Aquatic and Littoral Vegetation Report LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Summary of data collection methods for the main datasets used for the Lakes. ........... 6 Table 2: Summary of data collection methods for the main datasets used for the North Lagoon of the Coorong and Murray estuary. ............................................................................................... 7 Table 3: List of vegetation critical CPS, the subregion of the system where they occupy and metrics that could be used to set management triggers and limits of acceptable change (*denotes assessed by Paton et al. (2015) and not assessed in this report). .............................................21 Table 4: List of vegetation critical CPS with a summary of the (a.) the external drivers (b.) physico chemical processes (including thresholds where data exists) and (c.) biological processes outlined in the conceptual models. ............................................................................................22 Table 5: List of vegetation critical CPS, limits of acceptable change and management triggers based on spatial coverage. .......................................................................................................39 VI Nicol, J. (2016) Aquatic and Littoral Vegetation Report LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1: Species list, functional classification (Gehrig and Nicol 2010b), life history strategy and conservation status (state conservation status from listings in Barker et al. (2005)

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