Aquatic macroinvertebrate survey Phoenix Environmental Sciences, October 2010. Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Survey of Beeliar Wetlands for the Roe Highway Extension Project. Unpublished report prepared for South Metro Connect, Perth, WA. ...........................................................................Appendix Q Aquatic macroinvertebrate survey ........................................................................... Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Survey of Beeliar Wetlands for the Roe Highway Extension Project Final Report October 2010 Phoenix Environmental Sciences Pty Ltd 1 Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Survey of Beeliar Wetlands for the Roe Highway Extension Project South Metro Connect Final Report Beeliar Regional Park Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Survey for the Roe Highway Extension Project Prepared for: South Metro Connect Final Report Authors: Jarrad Clark Reviewers: Melanie White, Karen Crews Date: 15 October 2010 Submitted to: Jamie Shaw and Peter Magaro (South Metro Connect) © 2010 Phoenix Environmental Sciences Pty Ltd The information contained in this report is solely for the use of the Client for the purpose in which it has been prepared and Phoenix Environmental Sciences Pty Ltd accepts no responsibility for use beyond this purpose. Any person or organisation wishing to quote or reproduce any section of this report may only do so with the written permission of Phoenix Environmental Sciences Pty Ltd or South Metro Connect Pty Ltd. Phoenix Environmental Sciences Pty Ltd 1/511 Wanneroo Road BALCATTA WA 6023 P: 08 9345 1608 F: 08 6313 0680 E: [email protected] Project code: 938-ROE-AEC-AMI Phoenix Environmental Sciences Pty Ltd i Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Survey of Beeliar Wetlands for the Roe Highway Extension Project South Metro Connect Final Report Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... v 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Scope of Work and Survey Objectives ............................................................................................ 1 1.3 Survey Significance ......................................................................................................................... 3 2.0 Existing environment .................................................................................................................................. 5 2.1 Climate ............................................................................................................................................. 5 2.2 Surface Water .................................................................................................................................. 5 2.3 Groundwater .................................................................................................................................... 8 2.4 Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems / Wetlands ......................................................................... 10 2.4.1 GDE’s / Wetlands within the Project Area ................................................................................. 10 2.4.2 GDEs/Wetlands Adjacent to the Project Area ........................................................................... 13 2.5 Water Quality ................................................................................................................................. 13 2.5.1 North Lake.................................................................................................................................. 13 2.5.2 Bibra Lake .................................................................................................................................. 13 2.5.3 Existing Management ................................................................................................................ 14 2.6 Sources of Potential Contamination .............................................................................................. 15 2.7 Biota ............................................................................................................................................... 16 3.0 METHODS ................................................................................................................................................ 17 3.1 Habitat Assessment and Site Selection ........................................................................................ 17 3.2 Water Quality ................................................................................................................................. 17 3.3 Macroinvertebrates ........................................................................................................................ 18 3.4 Statistical Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 20 3.4.1 Hierarchical Cluster Analyses .................................................................................................... 20 3.4.2 SIMPER Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 20 3.5 Taxonomy and Nomenclature ....................................................................................................... 20 3.6 Survey Timing and Effort ............................................................................................................... 21 3.7 Survey Personnel .......................................................................................................................... 21 4.0 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................................. 22 4.1 Habitat ........................................................................................................................................... 22 4.2 Macroinvertebrate Assemblages ................................................................................................... 22 4.3 Summary by Wetland .................................................................................................................... 26 4.3.1 Bibra Lake .................................................................................................................................. 26 4.3.2 South Lake ................................................................................................................................. 27 4.3.3 North Lake.................................................................................................................................. 27 4.3.4 Melaleuca Swamp ...................................................................................................................... 27 4.3.5 Lower Swamp ............................................................................................................................ 27 4.4 Indicator Species ........................................................................................................................... 28 4.5 Water Quality ................................................................................................................................. 28 Phoenix Environmental Sciences Pty Ltd ii Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Survey of Beeliar Wetlands for the Roe Highway Extension Project South Metro Connect Final Report 4.6 Limitations ...................................................................................................................................... 34 5.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................... 35 6.0 RECCOMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 37 7.0 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 38 APPENDIX 1: PROJECT SITE DESCRIPTIONS ............................................................................................ 42 APPENDIX 2: SAMPLE SITE GPS COORDINATES ....................................................................................... 54 APPENDIX 3: AQUATIC MACROINVERTERBATE ASSEMBLAGE DATA .................................................... 55 APPENDIX 4: SIMPER ANALYSIS OF WITHIN WETLAND SPECIES CONTRIBUTIONS ............................ 60 APPENDIX 5: SIMPER ANALYSIS OF BETWEEN WETLAND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE ........................ 61 APPENDIX 6: HISTORIC DATA COMPARISONS ......................................................................................... 66 APPENDIX 7: BRAY-CURTIS SIMILARITY MATRIX ...................................................................................... 68 List of Tables Table 1-1 The geomorphic classification and evaluation of each wetland sampled in the project area (based on Semeniuk 1987). ......................................................................................................... 4 Table 2-1 Summary of GDE wetlands in the project area. ......................................................................... 11 Table 2-2 Jandakot Mound compliance criteria (Ministerial Condition 688). ............................................