Goyder Institute for Water Research scientists are excited to be working together with citizen scientists as part of Phase 1 of the Healthy Coorong Healthy Basin Program (HCHB).
November 2020 marks the 35th anniversary of the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert wetland becoming an internationally recognised Ramsar Site and the Coorong National Park is ‘Park of the Month.’ Researchers will be participating in the upcoming pilot Coorong Bioblitz, where community members will join them to learn about research activities that contribute to the Coorong’s health, including:
- which birds call the Coorong home, when and why
- why macroinvertebrates (and other creepy crawlies) are so important to the health of the system
- what changes we’re hoping to see within the aquatic plant communities as the health of the system improves
- what qualities the water and sediments need to have to sustain a healthy ecosystem for plants, waterbirds and fish
- how fish populations are monitored in the Coorong.
Goyder Institute researchers Dr Qifeng Ye (SARDI), Professor Sabine Dittmann (Flinders University) and Associate Professor Luke Mosley (the University of Adelaide) also recently provided video footage of their HCHB research for The Science and Citizens of the Coorong film, with Professor Michelle Waycott (Department for Environment and Water and the University of Adelaide) narrating the science section.
The Science and Citizens of the Coorong film was developed by the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board who screened the film during National Science Week 2020. A question and answer webinar followed the film with a panel of Goyder research scientists who all work on the Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin program plus John Gitsham, Head Ranger for the Coorong National Park and President of Birds SA.
You can find out more about the Institute’s HCHB research by contacting Institute Director Dr Kane Aldridge or visit Health Coorong Healthy Basin.
This project is part of the Department for Environment and Water’s Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin Program, which is jointly funded by the Australian and South Australian governments.
