Research

Waterbird movements and site use across the Basin

Project lead: Heather McGinness

Waterbirds need water and wetlands to forage, nest and rest. Knowing how, when and where waterbirds move is essential for supporting them with environmental water. This project satellite-tracked movements of ibis, spoonbills and egrets from 2016 to 2024. This information fed into statistical models, maps and animations describing waterbird movements and habitat use – greatly progressing waterbird movement ecology in Australia. The new knowledge gained from this research is helping adaptively manage Commonwealth water for the environment so that waterbirds are supported over their entire life cycle.

Research report: Satellite-tracking waterbird movements in the Murray–Darling Basin (PDF 31.3 MB).

Read more about this research project on the Waterbird breeding and movements page.

Identification and characterisation of refuge habitat

Project lead: Joanne Bennett

Wetlands and lakes are refuges for plants and animals during droughts and other hard times. Maintaining refugia in the Murray–Darling Basin is a key objective of Commonwealth environmental watering – and knowing where they are and how to prioritise them will best inform watering actions. This project used systematic conservation planning to map wetlands and lakes in the Basin, identify those of high ecological value and that can receive Commonwealth environmental water, and prioritise those most likely to be refugia for important species and ecosystems.

Research report: Identifying and characterising refugia habitat for target organisms across the Murray–Darling Basin (PDF 8.1 MB).

Influence of ecosystem condition on responses to environmental water

Project leads: Shane Brooks, Tanya Doody

This project identified ecosystem condition attributes that help to explain watering outcomes in different ecosystem types. It identified measures of ecosystem condition that could be used to adjust expected outcomes and tailor evaluation to better match the context under which water is being delivered. Research outputs included Flow-MER Friday webinar, web-based communications, conference and workshop presentations.

Research report in preparation.

Developing an approach to scaling for evaluating ecosystem diversity

Project lead: Shane Brooks

This project developed approaches for scaling evaluation of watering outcomes from individual habitat patches to the whole Basin. This work has provided tools for evaluating ecosystem diversity at spatial scales aligned to the scale of watering actions. Outputs were a research report, Flow-MER Friday webinar, Forum presentations, and spatial layers.

Research report in preparation: Scaling up: a framework for using local information for regional evaluation.

Characterising condition for non-woody vegetation in floodplain-wetland systems

Project leads: Cherie Campbell, Fiona Dyer

This research developed a framework of hierarchical condition and a process for evaluating success of outcomes for non-woody vegetation at a Basin-scale. Outputs were a series of journal papers, Flow-MER Friday webinars, web-based articles, conference and workshop presentations (PhD thesis).

Research report in preparation.

Remote sensing responses of woody vegetation to environmental water

Project lead: Tanya Doody

Trees provide many ecosystem and amenity values. They are also sensitive to changes in climate and water flows. Monitoring how trees in riverine ecosystems across the Murray–Darling Basin respond to water stress is challenging. This research developed a Basin-scale remote-sensing product that combines deep knowledge of water use for two key riverine tree species – river red gum and black box – with current and historical satellite images. This robust and fine-scale data can determine trends in tree water use and responses to changed water availability – improving knowledge of water needs for riverine trees in the Basin and informing water delivery.

Research report: Generation of tree-specific spatial evapotranspiration data to monitor the response of woody vegetation to water availability.

Fish population models to inform Commonwealth environmental watering

Project lead: Zeb Tonkin

Rivers aren’t healthy without fish. Native fish populations in the Murray–Darling Basin have suffered major declines, and they are a key target for delivery of Commonwealth environmental water. Understanding fish responses to flows throughout their life cycle is critical for targeting delivery of Commonwealth environmental water. This research developed population models for golden perch, Murray cod and bony herring, with the fishes’ life histories – from spawning to adulthood – guiding model development. The models can test various watering scenarios, evaluate likely outcomes, and help set monitoring targets. They showed that, for most of the Basin, delivery of Commonwealth water for the environment increased fish recruitment.

Research report: Fish population models to inform Commonwealth water for the environment (PDF 9.2 MB).

Additional research tested the sensitivity of the models for golden perch and Murray cod. This process tests whether variation in any model inputs (such as flow) have disproportionate impacts on model outputs (such as larval survival). The research found that there were some differences in population outcomes between scenarios with and without Commonwealth environmental water, but the models are robust to this uncertainty and they’re appropriate tools to assess the contributions of Commonwealth environmental water to improving native fish populations in the Basin.

Research report: Fish population models: sensitivity to key life history characteristics in the Murray cod and golden perch population models (PDF 4.5 MB).

Flow, movement and fish population dynamics in the Murray–Darling Basin

Project leads: Brenton Zampatti, Jason Thiem

Fish need to be able to move around rivers – up and down the river as well as sideways onto floodplains – to feed and reproduce. Regulation of river flows can hamper fish movement and reduce their populations. This research analysed fish movement over time using satellite trackers and information from otoliths (fish ear bones) and matched this up with corresponding river flows in areas where the fish were moving. Golden perch and Murray cod moved more and farther with increasing river discharge, giving them more opportunities to spawn and feed. This new knowledge will improve delivery of Commonwealth environmental water for habitat connectivity, fish passage, and maintaining refugia for migrating fish.

Research report: Regional and inter-regional fish movement responses to river discharge to inform Commonwealth water for the environment (PDF 7.7 MB).

Developing an environmental water energetics response model

Project leads: Paul McInerney, James Hitchcock

Food webs sustain all life. From microscopic plants to the mighty Murray cod, organisms in aquatic food webs rely on river flows so they can grow, reproduce, move, eat – and be eaten. River flows affect the cascade of energy from lower levels of a food web, such as leaf litter, to higher organisms, such as birds. This research developed an energetics response model to evaluate the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to food webs under different flow scenarios. This new knowledge showed that Commonwealth environmental water has led to increased biomass across the river ecosystem, including for critical species such as Murray cod and golden perch.

Research report: Basin-scale food webs research informing Commonwealth environmental watering (PDF 5.8 MB).

Developing flow-ecology relationships to predict responses to environmental water

Project lead: Danial Stratford

River flows affect the ecology of riverine ecosystems. Flow-ecology relationships describe which flow components, such as magnitude and timing, bring about which ecological responses, such as the types of plants found. This research developed a case study of non-woody vegetation (such as grasses and ferns) for studying flow-ecology relationships in the Murray–Darling Basin. A novel suite of hydrometrics – measurements such as wet-season duration and number of dry-season no-flow days – was developed to see what was driving observed changes in vegetation cover. The model developed by the research identifies flow drivers that shape vegetation community patterns. Understanding flow-ecology relationships informs adaptive management of environmental water and evaluation of ecosystem responses.

Research report: Modelling flow-ecology relationships for understorey vegetation across the Murray–Darling Basin.

Technical report: Sensitivity testing of an ecohydrological model for evaluating outcomes of environmental water (PDF 24.1 MB).

Technical report: Functional flow Australia (FFAus): User manual (PDF 4.73 MB).

Integrative Basin modelling

Project lead: Rebecca Lester

Making decisions about the delivery of environmental water can be challenging. It means integrating information about the impacts of environmental watering across space and time, and from the wetland scale to Basin-wide. This research developed an integrative modelling framework that can evaluate these ecosystem impacts by capturing knowledge, scaling it in space and time, exploring interactions among species, comparing scenarios, and accounting for uncertainty. This framework can support environmental watering decisions, enhance the adaptive management of water, and evaluate its impact.

Research report: Integrative modelling framework to evaluate multi-scale impacts of environmental watering (PDF 4.9 MB).

Data visualisation

Project lead: Martin Nolan

A picture tells a thousand words, and for a system as large and complex as the Murray–Darling Basin, visualising data is essential to communicating it effectively. This research integrated data across research themes to investigate ways of presenting data, model outputs and research results to best inform policy and decision making. A web-based data and interactive mapping explorer allows ‘real time’ reporting. Visual summaries of the annual Basin-scale evaluation reports distil key findings and visualisations for evaluation themes. Dashboards give an overview of watering actions and key outcomes by theme. These user-centred visualisations are effectively communicating the benefits of Commonwealth environmental water.

Research report: Data visualisation research project: final report (PDF 5.6 MB).

Co-designing engagement with Indigenous peoples for better environmental water delivery

Project leads: Bradley Moggridge, Emma Woodward

This project supported a closer analysis of current and future Indigenous engagement and inclusion in environmental water-related decision-making in the Murray–Darling Basin. This research aimed to answer the question ‘What Indigenous engagement and Indigenous-led activities are already taking place at the 7 Selected Areas? What are the challenges and opportunities?’. Research framed engagement of Indigenous perspectives on Australian water management with a particular focus on environmental water, describing successful engagement drawn from Selected Areas and a case study developed in partnership with Traditional Owners on-country. This research resulted in the Principles and practice for Indigenous engagement in water management handbook.

Research report available on request: Report on the survey of Selected Area Indigenous engagement.