Lake Eyre Basin Rivers Monitoring Project Knowledge Review DEWNR Technical report 2015/20 Funding for these projects has been provided by the Australian Government through the Bioregional Assessment Programme. Lake Eyre Basin Rivers Monitoring Project Knowledge Review Editors Catherine Miles and Dale McNeil Contributing Authors Kate Burndred, Justin Costelloe, Angus Duguid, Sarah Imgraben, Gini Lee, Brooke Maddill, Rupert Mathwin, David Schmarr, Rebecca Sheldon and Gresley Wakelin-King Science, Monitoring and Knowledge Branch Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources April, 2015 DEWNR Technical note 2015/20 Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | Technical note 2015/20 i Lake Eyre Basin Rivers Monitoring Project – Knowledge Review Author Affiliations Editors Catherine Miles1 and Dale McNeil2 Contributing Authors Kate Burndred3, Justin Costelloe4, Angus Duguid5, Sarah Imgraben6, GiniLee4, Brooke Madden4, Rupert Mathwin7, David Schmarr7, Rebecca Sheldon8 and Gresley Wakelin-King9 1Miles Environmenal Consulting 2Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, South Australia 3Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland 4University of Melbourne 5Department of Land Resource Management, Northern Territory 6Auricht Projects 7South Australian Research and Development Institute 8Sinclair Knight Merz 9Wakelin Associates Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | Technical note 2015/20 ii Lake Eyre Basin Rivers Monitoring Project –Knowledge Review Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources 25 Grenfell Street, Adelaide GPO Box 1047, Adelaide SA 5001 Telephone National (08) 8463 6946 International +61 8 8463 6946 Fax National (08) 8463 6999 International +61 8 8463 6999 Website www.environment.sa.gov.au Disclaimer The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources and its employees do not warrant or make any representation regarding the use, or results of the use, of the information contained herein as regards to its correctness, accuracy, reliability, currency or otherwise. The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources and its employees expressly disclaims all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or advice. Information contained in this document is correct at the time of writing. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © Crown in right of the State of South Australia, through the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources 2014 ISBN 978-1-922174-15-4 Preferred way to cite this publication Miles C and McNeil DG (Eds). 2015, Lake Eyre Basin Rivers Monitoring Project: Knowledge Review, DEWNR Technical note 2015/20, Government of South Australia, through Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, Adelaide Download this document at: http://www.waterconnect.sa.gov.au Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | Technical note 2015/20 iii Lake Eyre Basin Rivers Monitoring Project – Knowledge Review Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the input of all those who assisted with the project. The authors would like to thank the following: Michelle Bald, Glen Scholz, Kumar Savadamuthu and Kane Aldridge for providing useful revisions and recommendations on later drafts. Professor Keith Walker of The University of Adelaide undertook a detailed scientific review of the document. Colin Cichon provided editorial and formatting review on the final document. Ben Bruce, Lisa Mensforth, Darren Oemcke and Sandy Carruthers provided program and personnel management for the LEBRM project. Tom Carrangis provided project management for LEBRM. Additional editing was provided by Fiona McCallum. Funding for this project has been provided by the Australian Government through the Department of the Environment as part of the Bioregional Assessment Programme. See www.bioregionalassessments.gov.au for further information. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | Technical note 2015/20 iv Lake Eyre Basin Rivers Monitoring Project – Knowledge Review Contents SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. CONTEXT ................................................................................................................................ 3 1.2. THE LAKE EYRE BASIN ............................................................................................................ 3 1.3. SCOPE .................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1. STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS REVIEW ......................................................................................... 7 2.1.1. Frameworks ........................................................................................................................... 7 2.1.2. Aquatic ecosystem classification and mapping ..................................................................... 9 2.1.3. Conceptual models, monitoring and condition ................................................................... 10 2.1.4. Pre-existing literature reviews ............................................................................................. 13 2.2. IMPACTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC DISTURBANCE ................................................................... 14 2.2.1. Pressures.............................................................................................................................. 14 2.2.2. Stressors .............................................................................................................................. 17 2.3. AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES ................................................................ 21 2.3.1. Components ........................................................................................................................ 21 2.3.2. Processes ............................................................................................................................. 26 2.4. VALUES ................................................................................................................................ 32 2.4.1. Ecological and conservation values ..................................................................................... 32 2.4.2. Cultural and social values .................................................................................................... 34 2.5. CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 39 3.1. STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS REVIEW ....................................................................................... 41 3.1.1. Frameworks ......................................................................................................................... 41 3.1.2. Aquatic ecosystem classification and mapping ................................................................... 50 3.1.3. Conceptual models, monitoring and condition ................................................................... 65 3.1.4. Literature reviews ................................................................................................................ 82 3.2. IMPACTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC DISTURBANCE ................................................................... 87 3.2.1. Pressures.............................................................................................................................. 87 3.2.2. Stressors .............................................................................................................................. 98 3.3. AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES .............................................................. 107 3.3.1. Components ...................................................................................................................... 107 3.3.2. Processes ........................................................................................................................... 140 3.4. VALUES .............................................................................................................................. 187 3.4.1. Ecological and Conservation Values .................................................................................. 187 3.4.2. Cultural values ................................................................................................................... 200 3.5. GAPS .................................................................................................................................. 254 5.1. DATA STACK ....................................................................................................................... 260 5.2. DATA REGISTER .................................................................................................................. 260 5.3. INTERACTIVE GIS ............................................................................................................... 260 5.4. MAPS ................................................................................................................................. 260 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................... 261 List of figures Figure 1.1 The Lake Eyre Basin, showing the major waterbodies and location