The diversity of inundated areas in semiarid flood plain ecosystems

Title
The diversity of inundated areas in semiarid flood plain ecosystems
Publication Date
2006
Author(s)
Murray, Orla
Thoms, Martin
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8074-0476
Email: mthoms2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:mthoms2
Rayburg, Scott
Editor
Editor(s): John S Rowan, Robert W Duck and Alan Werritty
Type of document
Book Chapter
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
IAHS Press
Place of publication
Wallingford, United Kingdom
Edition
1
Series
IAHS Publication
UNE publication id
une:9840
Abstract
Contemporary methods for managing flood plain ecosystems are biased towards temporal patterns of flow. Such approaches disregard the inherent spatial complexity associated with the flooding and drying of flood plain ecosystems and the influence this has on their productivity and bio­diversity. This study investigates how the character of inundated patches changes through two flood events in the Narran Lakes ecosystem, Australia. A series of Landsat thematic mapper (TM) images were used to elicit patterns in inundated-patch character over time. Characteristics including patch number, size, shape and proximity to other patches were calculated for each image and subjected to multivariate statistical analyses. Strong positive relationships were observed between patch number; richness of patch area, shape and proximity and total surface area inundated. Hysteresis was also observed for the latter three relationships. This work highlights the importance of incor­porating both spatial and temporal aspects of flood plain inundation in determining environmental water allocations for flood plain maintenance.
Link
Citation
Sediment Dynamics and the Hydromorphology of Fluvial Systems, p. 277-286
ISBN
1901502686
Start page
277
End page
286

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