Description:
Funding details: National Key Research and Development Program of China Stem Cell and Translational Research, #2016YFC0402900 Funding details: National Key Research and Development Program of China Stem Cell and Translational Research, #2016YFE0201900 Funding details: Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Australian Research Council, ARC;ACES, DP160100248 Funding details: Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Australian Research Council, ARC;ACES, LE0668495
Description:
Funding details: National Key Research and Development Program of China Stem Cell and Translational Research, #2016YFC0402900 Funding details: National Key Research and Development Program of China Stem Cell and Translational Research, #2016YFE0201900 Funding details: Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Australian Research Council, ARC;ACES, DP160100248 Funding details: Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Australian Research Council, ARC;ACES, LE0668495
Description:
Restoration programmes for degraded aquatic ecosystems frequently focus on flow restoration or reinstatement, including recovery targets for volumes of water to be used for environmental benefit. Australia's Murray-Darling Basin is an example of a major system undergoing substantial water reform to balance the needs of competing users, including the environment, within the constraints of an arid climate. This reform revolves around accounting for finite volumes of water that have been shared amongst water users. We argue that while recovering water will provide good outcomes, as a sole intervention, it is not enough to deliver the desired environmental benefits of the reform given the significantly altered state of the catchment. Here, we present 10 measures that could be used to complement planned water recovery actions. These "complementary measures" integrate recovery actions, which when strategically combined with water delivery would significantly enhance water reform efforts to generate environmental outcomes in a highly modified system.
Description:
In the 12 years since Dudgeon et al. (2006) reviewed major pressures on freshwater ecosystems, the biodiversity crisis in the world's lakes, reservoirs, rivers, streams and wetlands has deepened. While lakes, reservoirs and rivers cover only 2.3% of the Earth's surface, these ecosystems host at least 9.5% of the Earth's described animal species. Furthermore, using the World Wide Fund for Nature's Living Planet Index, freshwater population declines (83% between 1970 and 2014) continue to outpace contemporaneous declines in marine or terrestrial systems. The Anthropocene has brought multiple new and varied threats that disproportionately impact freshwater systems. We document 12 emerging threats to freshwater biodiversity that are either entirely new since 2006 or have since intensified: (i) changing climates; (ii) e-commerce and invasions; (iii) infectious diseases; (iv) harmful algal blooms; (v) expanding hydropower; (vi) emerging contaminants; (vii) engineered nanomaterials; (viii) microplastic pollution; (ix) light and noise; (x) freshwater salinisation; (xi) declining calcium; and (xii) cumulative stressors. Effects are evidenced for amphibians, fishes, invertebrates, microbes, plants, turtles and waterbirds, with potential for ecosystem-level changes through bottom-up and top-down processes. In our highly uncertain future, the net effects of these threats raise serious concerns for freshwater ecosystems. However, we also highlight opportunities for conservation gains as a result of novel management tools (e.g. environmental flows, environmental DNA) and specific conservation-oriented actions (e.g. dam removal, habitat protection policies, managed relocation of species) that have been met with varying levels of success. Moving forward, we advocate hybrid approaches that manage fresh waters as crucial ecosystems for human life support as well as essential hotspots of biodiversity and ecological function. Efforts to reverse global trends in freshwater degradation now depend on bridging an immense gap between the aspirations of conservation biologists and the accelerating rate of species endangerment.
Description:
Environmental changes such as climate, land use, and fire activity affect terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems at multiple scales of space and time. Due to the nature of the interactions between terrestrial and aquatic dynamics, an integrated study using multiple proxies is critical for a better understanding of climate- and fire-driven impacts on environmental change. Here we present a synthesis of biological and geochemical data (pollen, spores, diatoms, micro X-ray fluorescence scanning, CN content, and stable isotopes) from Dove Lake, Tasmania, allowing us to disentangle long-term terrestrial-aquatic dynamics through the last 12 kyear. We found that aquatic dynamics at Dove Lake are tightly linked to vegetation shifts dictated by regional hydroclimatic variability in western Tasmania. A major shift in the diatom composition was detected at ca. 6 ka, and it was likely mediated by changes in regional terrestrial vegetation, charcoal, and iron accumulation. High rainforest abundance prior ca. 6 ka is linked to increased terrestrially derived organic matter delivery into the lake, higher dystrophy, anoxic bottom conditions, and lower light penetration depths. The shift to a landscape with a higher proportion of sclerophyll species following the intensification of El Niño-Southern Oscillation since ca. 6 ka corresponds to a decline in terrestrial organic matter input into Dove Lake, lower dystrophy levels, higher oxygen availability, and higher light availability for algae and littoral macrophytes. This record provides new insights on terrestrial-aquatic dynamics that could contribute to the conservation management plans in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area and in temperate high-altitude dystrophic systems elsewhere.
Description:
Environmental changes such as climate, land use, and fire activity affect terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems at multiple scales of space and time. Due to the nature of the interactions between terrestrial and aquatic dynamics, an integrated study using multiple proxies is critical for a better understanding of climate- and fire-driven impacts on environmental change. Here we present a synthesis of biological and geochemical data (pollen, spores, diatoms, micro X-ray fluorescence scanning, CN content, and stable isotopes) from Dove Lake, Tasmania, allowing us to disentangle long-term terrestrial-aquatic dynamics through the last 12 kyear. We found that aquatic dynamics at Dove Lake are tightly linked to vegetation shifts dictated by regional hydroclimatic variability in western Tasmania. A major shift in the diatom composition was detected at ca. 6 ka, and it was likely mediated by changes in regional terrestrial vegetation, charcoal, and iron accumulation. High rainforest abundance prior ca. 6 ka is linked to increased terrestrially derived organic matter delivery into the lake, higher dystrophy, anoxic bottom conditions, and lower light penetration depths. The shift to a landscape with a higher proportion of sclerophyll species following the intensification of El Niño-Southern Oscillation since ca. 6 ka corresponds to a decline in terrestrial organic matter input into Dove Lake, lower dystrophy levels, higher oxygen availability, and higher light availability for algae and littoral macrophytes. This record provides new insights on terrestrial-aquatic dynamics that could contribute to the conservation management plans in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area and in temperate high-altitude dystrophic systems elsewhere.
Description:
Lake Warna is a small shallow crater lake on the Dieng Plateau, Central Java, the second highest plateau in the world after Nepal. A 24 cm sediment core was extracted from Lake Warna to reconstruct environmental changes in the Lake and its catchment from preserved diatom assemblages. Diatoms are microalgae in the Bacillariophyte that have silicious cell walls that can be preserved in sediments. As diatom species are sensitive to water quality changes in the assemblages upcore reflect changes in lake condition. Sediment cores were collected from two sites, sliced at 1 cm intervals for diatom analysis and bulked across 3 cm for 210Pb radiometric dating. Examination of diatoms in a 24 cm sediment core from Lake Warna reveals clear correlation with human activities in the catchment area over the past 124 years. The record is divided into 2 zones based on sustained changes in the diatom assemblages. The lowest zone Zone I (21–15 cm, estimated 1935–1954) was dominated by Frustulia crassinervia (Brebisson ex W. Smith) Ross, Gomph onema parvulum (Kutzing) Kutzing, Pinnularia valdetolerans Mayama & H. Kobayasi, P. viridis (Nitzsch) Ehrenberg, and Aulacoseira distans (Ehrenberg) Simonson. Zone II (15–0 cm, estimated 1980–2013), the uppermost zone was dominated by P. viridiformis Krammer, P. latevittata Cleve, E. monodon var. tro p ica (Hustedt) Hustedt, S. seminulum Grunow, P a crosphaeria W. Smith. E. zygodon Ehrenberg, P. gibba Ehrenberg, and P. viridiformis Krammer. The 15 cm core from TW3 commenced sediment accumulation 114 years ago and is divided into 2 zones as well. Zone I (15–7 cm, estimated 1901–1981) was dominated by Brachysira brebissonii R. Ross, G. parvulum (Kutzing) Kutzing, E. monodon var. tropica (Hustedt) Hustedt, E. zygodon Ehrenberg and S. seminulum Grunow. Zone II (7–0 cm, estimated 1981–2006) was dominated by P. viridiformis Krammer, P. gibba Ehrenberg, Pinnularia viridis (Nitzsch) Ehrenberg, Sellaphora bacillum (Ehrenberg) Mann, S. seminulum Grunow, and Stauroneis sp. These assemblages reflect ongoing acid, clear water conditions for the time represented by the cores. The recent rise in S. seminulum Grunow reflects recent lake eutrophication likely owing to the accelerated agricultural and urban development in the lake's catchment in recent decades.
Description:
Lake sediments constitute natural archives of past environmental changes. Historically, research has focused mainly on generating regional climate records, but records of human impacts caused by land use and exploitation of freshwater resources are now attracting scientific and management interests. Long-term environmental records are useful to establish ecosystem reference conditions, enabling comparisons with current environments and potentially allowing future trajectories to be more tightly constrained. Here we review the timing and onset of human disturbance in and around inland water ecosystems as revealed through sedimentary archives from around the world. Palaeolimnology provides access to a wealth of information reflecting early human activities and their corresponding aquatic ecological shifts. First human impacts on aquatic systems and their watersheds are highly variable in time and space. Landscape disturbance often constitutes the first anthropogenic signal in palaeolimnological records. While the effects of humans at the landscape level are relatively easily demonstrated, the earliest signals of humaninduced changes in the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems need very careful investigation using multiple proxies. Additional studies will improve our understanding of linkages between human settlements, their exploitation of land and water resources, and the downstream effects on continental waters.
Description:
Lake sediments constitute natural archives of past environmental
Description:
Lake sediments constitute natural archives of past environmental changes. Historically, research has focused mainly on generating regional climate records, but records of human impacts caused by land use and exploitation of freshwater resources are now attracting scientific and management interests. Long-term environmental records are useful to establish ecosystem reference conditions, enabling comparisons with current environments and potentially allowing future trajectories to be more tightly constrained. Here we review the timing and onset of human disturbance in and around inland water ecosystems as revealed through sedimentary archives from around the world. Palaeolimnology provides access to a wealth of information reflecting early human activities and their corresponding aquatic ecological shifts. First human impacts on aquatic systems and their watersheds are highly variable in time and space. Landscape disturbance often constitutes the first anthropogenic signal in palaeolimnological records. While the effects of humans at the landscape level are relatively easily demonstrated, the earliest signals of humaninduced changes in the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems need very careful investigation using multiple proxies. Additional studies will improve our understanding of linkages between human settlements, their exploitation of land and water resources, and the downstream effects on continental waters.
Description:
Lake sediments constitute natural archives of past environmental
Description:
Natural ecosystems provide amenity to human populations in the form of ecosystem services. These services are grouped into four broad categories: Provisioning-food and water production; regulating-control of climate and disease; supporting-crop pollination; and cultural-spiritual and recreational benefits. Aquatic systems provide considerable service through the provision of potable water, fisheries and aquaculture production, nutrient mitigation and the psychological benefits that accrue from the aesthetic amenity provided from lakes, rivers and other wetlands. Further, littoral and riparian ecosystems, and aquifers, protect human communities from sea level encroachment, and tidal and river flooding. Catchment and water development provides critical resources for human consumption. Where these provisioning services are prioritized over others, the level and quality of production may be impacted. Further, the benefits from these provisioning services comes with the opportunity cost of diminishing regulating, supporting and cultural services. This imbalance flags concerns for humanity as it exceeds recognised safe operating spaces. These concepts are explored by reference to long term records of change in some of the world's largest river catchments and lessons are drawn that may enable other communities to consider the balance of ecosystems services in natural resource management.
Description:
Natural ecosystems provide amenity to human populations in the form of ecosystem services. These services are grouped into four broad categories: Provisioning-food and water production; regulating-control of climate and disease; supporting-crop pollination; and cultural-spiritual and recreational benefits. Aquatic systems provide considerable service through the provision of potable water, fisheries and aquaculture production, nutrient mitigation and the psychological benefits that accrue from the aesthetic amenity provided from lakes, rivers and other wetlands. Further, littoral and riparian ecosystems, and aquifers, protect human communities from sea level encroachment, and tidal and river flooding. Catchment and water development provides critical resources for human consumption. Where these provisioning services are prioritized over others, the level and quality of production may be impacted. Further, the benefits from these provisioning services comes with the opportunity cost of diminishing regulating, supporting and cultural services. This imbalance flags concerns for humanity as it exceeds recognised safe operating spaces. These concepts are explored by reference to long term records of change in some of the world's largest river catchments and lessons are drawn that may enable other communities to consider the balance of ecosystems services in natural resource management.
Description:
The increasing demand for freshwater, as well as uncertainties associated with climate change, has placed growing pressure on wetland and natural resource managers to develop sustainable approaches that extend across landscapes and ensure the many benefits we obtain from freshwater wetlands are not further reduced.
Description:
The aim of this edited volume is to introduce the scientific community to paleoenvironmental studies of estuaries, to highlight the types of information that can be obtained from such studies, and to promote the use of paleoenvironmental studies in estuarine management. Readers will learn about the the application of different paleoecological approaches used in estuaries that develop our understanding of their response to natural and human influences. Particular attention is given to the essential steps required for undertaking a paleoecological study, in particular with regard to site selection, core extraction and chronological techniques, followed by the range of indicators that can be used. A series of case studies are discussed in the book to demonstrate how paleoecological studies can be used to address key questions, and to sustainably manage these important coastal environments in the future. This book will appeal to professional scientists interested in estuarine studies and/or paleoenvironmental research, as well as estuarine managers who are interested in the incorporation of paleoenvironmental research into their management programs.
Description:
Worldwide, estuarine research involving a long-term perspective to aid conservation and management has lagged behind terrestrial and lake environment research. Consequently, despite the obvious importance of estuaries, this means we have limited detailed knowledge of how they function or the ranges of natural variability they experience and how humans have, and will interact with these influences. Gaining a clear understanding using a long-term perspective is crucial if we are to maintain and restore the integrity of estuarine environments. While paleoecological studies in the ocean and lakes are well-established science, applications of paleoecological techniques in estuarine environments remains largely novel and in some cases problematic. In recent years estuarine paleoecological research has rapidly developed and an increasing range of technological applications is improving our understanding of the dynamic and variable nature of estuaries. The purpose of this book is to briefly describe estuarine form and function and to demonstrate the application of different paleoecological approaches used in estuaries that develop our understanding of their response to natural and human influences. Chapters 1–4 provide the framework for this book. They describe the characteristics of estuaries, important factors influencing them and introduce paleoecology as a useful tool for estuarine management. The following chapters (5–7) outline the essential steps required for undertaking a paleoecological study, in particular with regard to site selection, core extraction and chronological techniques, followed by the range of indicators that can be used. They are divided into geochemical proxies and pollutants (8–10) and biological proxies (11–18). The book concludes with a series of case studies (19–24): the first study focuses on sea level changes, while the rest present research from major estuaries (sensu lato) worldwide, to demonstrate how paleoecological studies can be used to address key questions, and to sustainably manage these important coastal environments in the future.
Description:
Paleolimnological techniques can reveal long-term perturbations and associated stable state transitions of lake ecosystems. However, such transitions are difficult to predict since changes to lake ecosystems can be abrupt or gradual. This study examined whether there were past transitions in the ecological regime of Kings Billabong, a shallow River Murray wetland in southeast Australia. A 94-cm-long core, covering c. 90 years of age, was analysed at 1 cm resolution for subfossil cladocerans, diatoms and other proxies. Prior to river regulation (c. 1930), the littoral to planktonic ratios of cladocerans and diatoms, and bulk sediment delta C-13 values were high, while the period from c. 1930 to c. 1970 experienced considerable changes to the wetland ecosystem. The abrupt nature of changes of planktonic cladocerans and diatoms, particularly after the onset of river regulation (1930s), was triggered by inundation, high rates of sedimentation and shifts in bulk sediment delta N-15 values. However, the transition of a once littoral-dominated community, to one favouring an increasingly turbid, plankton-dominated trophic condition following river regulation was relatively slow and lasted for decades. The progression to a new regime was likely delayed by the partial recovery of submerged plant communities and related internal dynamics.
Description:
The Coorong is a back-barrier lagoon that lies at the mouth of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. As part of a wider estuarine complex it was successfully nominated as a wetland of international significance under the Ramsar Convention where it was identified as a saline to hypersaline lagoon. Perceived obligations to retain this condition lead to limits on the release of freshwater from the hinterland to the lagoon. The Coorong has been identified as at risk of degradation with declining cover of its primary autotroph Ruppia spp. attributed to increasing salinity. Declining flows through the Murray-Darling Basin and recent drought induced extreme hypersalinity, particularly in the south lagoon. Increases in brine shrimp, declines in its fishery and replacement of a diverse avifauna with Banded Stilt led to calls that the Coorong was in crisis. Diatom-based palaeoecological assessment along the length of the lagoon revealed a natural subsaline, tidal system that shifted, after the commissioning of barrages, to a saline, closed lagoon with extensive sulphidic sediments. The misidentification of the natural character of the lagoon accentuated its degradation. Earlier sediment-based research may have provided for the identification of a more appropriate natural ecological character and an early warning of the degree to which the system had degraded. Palaeolimnological approaches represent a valuable tool to better evaluate the condition of wetlands listed under the Ramsar Convention.
Description:
Vegetation communities in Australia's riverine landscapes are ecologically, economically and culturally significant. They are also among the most threatened ecosystems on the continent and have been dramatically altered as a result of human activities and climate change. Vegetation of Australian Riverine Landscapes brings together, for the first time, the results of the substantial amount of research that has been conducted over the last few decades into the biology, ecology and management of these important plant communities in Australia.
Description:
The ecological response of shallow oxbow lakes to variability in hydrology and catchment development in large river floodplain ecosystems (RFE) in Arkansas remains largely unknown. Investigating these responses will advance our understanding of ecological evolution of oxbow lakes in response to the major environmental drivers, which will establish baseline conditions required to develop effective management practices for RFE. In this pilot study, we examined the potential of using a dated surface sediment core from Adams Bayou, a floodplain lake located within the Cache-Lower White River Ramsar site in SE Arkansas. Stratigraphic records of diatoms and sediment geochemistry were used to ascertain variation in Adams Bayou's ecological condition. During 1968–2008, in response to hydrological and anthropogenic changes, Adams Bayou's diatom assemblages progressed from predominantly benthic (Gomphonema parvulum and Meridion circulare) to primarily planktonic assemblage (Aulacoseira granulata and Cyclotella meneghiniana), along with a decrease in magnetic susceptibility (k) and % silt. Statistical analyses reveled that during 1968–2000, higher hydrological connectivity and catchment alterations drove Adams Bayou's ecosystem. After 2000, lower hydrological connectivity and increase in cultivation were the major drivers. The potential impact of increasing air temperature was also noted. The shift in Adams Bayou from a connected, clear, mesotrophic state to a relatively isolated, turbid and nutrient enriched state is consistent with regime shift models and highlights its sensitivity to a combination of environmental stresses prevalent in the catchment. Although fluvial systems pose challenges in establishing clear chronologies, oxbow lake sediments can be a effective paleoecological archives. Our work provides clear evidence for the change in the ecological character of this wetland of international significance and flags the need for a wider assessment of water bodies across this site under obligations to the Ramsar Convention.
Description:
The ecological response of shallow oxbow lakes to variability in hydrology and catchment development in large river floodplain ecosystems (RFE) in Arkansas remains largely unknown. Investigating these responses will advance our understanding of ecological evolution of oxbow lakes in response to the major environmental drivers, which will establish baseline conditions required to develop effective management practices for RFE. In this pilot study, we examined the potential of using a dated surface sediment core from Adams Bayou, a floodplain lake located within the Cache-Lower White River Ramsar site in SE Arkansas. Stratigraphic records of diatoms and sediment geochemistry were used to ascertain variation in Adams Bayou's ecological condition. During 1968–2008, in response to hydrological and anthropogenic changes, Adams Bayou's diatom assemblages progressed from predominantly benthic (Gomphonema parvulum and Meridion circulare) to primarily planktonic assemblage (Aulacoseira granulata and Cyclotella meneghiniana), along with a decrease in magnetic susceptibility (k) and % silt. Statistical analyses reveled that during 1968–2000, higher hydrological connectivity and catchment alterations drove Adams Bayou's ecosystem. After 2000, lower hydrological connectivity and increase in cultivation were the major drivers. The potential impact of increasing air temperature was also noted. The shift in Adams Bayou from a connected, clear, mesotrophic state to a relatively isolated, turbid and nutrient enriched state is consistent with regime shift models and highlights its sensitivity to a combination of environmental stresses prevalent in the catchment. Although fluvial systems pose challenges in establishing clear chronologies, oxbow lake sediments can be a effective paleoecological archives. Our work provides clear evidence for the change in the ecological character of this wetland of international significance and flags the need for a wider assessment of water bodies across this site under obligations to the Ramsar Convention.
Description:
The world’s wetlands of international importance are overseen by host nations under processes established through the intergovernmental Convention on Wetlands, commonly known as the Ramsar Convention. Signatory nations to the Convention are required to list at least one wetland as internationally important (known as Ramsar sites) and describe and maintain their ecological character (Gardner and Davidson 2011). Wetlands that satisfy one of a suite of ecological criteria, many of which relate to wetland biodiversity, may be listed as internationally important; the list of internationally important wetlands currently contains 2231 sites covering 214 936 005 ha (17 March 2016). The signatories are also required to report on any likely and actual variations in the ecological character of the wetland that may bring it to a state where it may be considered degraded (Finlayson 1996). They are then required to mitigate this degradation or follow prescriptions to delist and offset, with the former being potentially biophysically complex (Alexander et al. 2011) and the latter potentially bedevilled by complex processes (Pittock et al. 2010).