Our Flow-MER Fridays line-up this Autumn includes:
- Environmental Water: Supporting the right plants in the right places — Recording available
- Flows, fish and connectivity — Recording available
- Species conservation in the age of uncertainty — Recording available
This series of Flow-MER Fridays has now concluded. Recordings of each session are available below. Please enjoy, and subscribe to Flow-MER updates for the next series.
Session 1: Recording available
Environmental Water: Supporting the right plants in the right places
An important part of the Flow Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Program is the evaluation of outcomes from the use of environmental water. In this series of Flow MER Friday’s we will showcase our evaluation work. The vegetation that occurs along floodplains and wetlands is highly valued for the ecological and cultural benefits it provides. A combination of land use changes and flow modification has had a detrimental effect on the condition of vegetation across many of the world’s large river systems. Environmental flows are used across the Basin to improve the condition and diversity of floodplain and wetland vegetation. Our evaluation investigates the vegetation outcomes from the use of Commonwealth environmental water over the past 9 years in the Murray Darling Basin. We demonstrate a relationship between inundation regimes and the plants that we see in wetlands and floodplains and in doing so, show how environmental water is being used to maintain a diversity of important plant species across the Murray-Darling Basin.
Session 2: Recording available
Flows, fish and connectivity
This talk will explore work undertaken through Flow-MER examining basin-scale flow regimes and hydrological connectivity. This will set the context for a discussion about fish outcomes from the use of environmental water over nine survey years (2014–23). Current findings and learnings about flows, fish and connectivity from the Basin-scale evaluation will also be shared.
Session 3: Recording available
Species conservation in the age of uncertainty
Contributors: Rupert Mathwin, Andrew Hall.
Globally, freshwater vertebrates are declining rapidly, four times faster than their terrestrial counterparts, due to threats like habitat loss and invasive species. This presentation will discuss the challenges faced by threatened species in managed floodplains and explore the potential of environmental water management in conservation efforts.
