Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/20927
Title: Sedimentation in dryland river waterholes: a threat to aquatic refugia?
Contributor(s): Reid, Michael  (author)orcid ; Thoms, Martin  (author)orcid ; Chilcott, Stephen (author); Fitzsimmons, Kathryn (author)
Publication Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1071/mf15451
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/20927
Abstract: In dryland river systems subject to prolonged low and no flow periods, waterholes, or sections of river channel that are deep relative to the rest of the channel and that retain water for longer periods of no flow, provide refugia for aquatic biota and hence are critical to the resilience of aquatic ecosystems. This study examined physical, chemical and bio-stratigraphy in refugial waterholes situated along four distributaries of the Lower Balonne River system in semi-arid Australia. In doing so we reconstructed environmental histories for the waterholes, calculated how sedimentation rates have changed in response to land use change over the past two centuries, and assessed whether they are threatened by increased sedimentation through potential effects on waterhole depth and hence persistence times and habitat quality. Our study found that sedimentation rates have increased substantially since European settlement, most likely in response to removal of groundcover by grazers. The increased sediment accumulation rates are estimated to have reduced persistence times during low and no flow periods of the waterholes by 2-4 months. Despite evidence from other similar systems in Australia that increased influx of sediment coincided with loss of submerged macrophytes, stratigraphic records of preserved pollen and diatoms did not provide consistent evidence of biotic or habitat quality changes within the waterholes associated with European settlement.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Marine and Freshwater Research, 68(4), p. 668-685
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Place of Publication: Australia
ISSN: 1448-6059
1323-1650
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 040606 Quaternary Environments
040607 Surface Processes
060206 Palaeoecology
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 310306 Palaeoecology
370901 Geomorphology and earth surface processes
370905 Quaternary environments
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 960506 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Fresh, Ground and Surface Water Environments
960504 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Farmland, Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Environments
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 180307 Rehabilitation or conservation of fresh, ground and surface water environments
180601 Assessment and management of terrestrial ecosystems
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

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