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https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/29815
Title: | Ecosystem Responses to Water Resource Developments in a Large Dryland River | Contributor(s): | Thoms, Martin (author) ; Delong, Michael (author) | Publication Date: | 2018-09 | Early Online Version: | 2018-08-30 | DOI: | 10.1029/2018WR022956 | Handle Link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/29815 | Abstract: | Large floodplain rivers in dryland regions are becoming increasingly modified through water resource developments. Identifying ecosystem responses in these systems is challenging because of their natural variability, limited data, and the myriad of ways they are modified. This study used organic samples from snail, mussel, and fish specimens obtained from museum collections for the determination of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios, for the Barwon‐Darling River, Australia, between 1869 and 2005, a period of extensive water development. Three hypotheses were posed for this study: (1) The trophic status and food web character of the Barwon‐Darling River will change in response to water resource developments; (2) responses in the trophic status and food web character will differ between different hydrogeomorphic zones identified along the river; and (3) food chain lengths will increase in response to water resource developments. Substantive changes in trophic status and components of the food web were detected between before and after water developments. Three lines of evidence support the conclusion of anthropogenically driven changes in the food web of this dryland floodplain‐river system. Stable isotope ratios of fish, mussels, and snails differed between both hydrogeomorphic zones of the river and the before and after disturbance periods. Layman metrics, representing community niche space, differed between before and after disturbance periods. Also, both mean trophic position and food chain length differed between predisturbance and postdisturbance for the two functional process zones. The substantial shift in basal source contribution over time is a potential indicator of a state change and loss of resilience in this system. | Publication Type: | Journal Article | Source of Publication: | Water Resources Research, 54(9), p. 6643-6655 | Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc | Place of Publication: | United States of America | ISSN: | 1944-7973 0043-1397 |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: | 040699 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience not elsewhere classified | Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: | 370901 Geomorphology and earth surface processes 370702 Ecohydrology |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: | 960608 Rural Water Evaluation (incl. Water Quality) | Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: | 180307 Rehabilitation or conservation of fresh, ground and surface water environments | Peer Reviewed: | Yes | HERDC Category Description: | C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal |
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Appears in Collections: | Journal Article School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences |
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