Investigations underway to help restore the Coorong

The Australian and South Australian governments have announced the next $22.2 million of funding to help get the Coorong back on track for a healthy future. The Coorong is culturally, environmentally and economically important at local, national and international scales but the ecology of the southern Coorong has deteriorated. Most notably this has included large reductions in the abundances and some waterbirds, particularly fairy tern and migratory shorebirds, with the Coorong considered the most important refuge site for waterbird populations in the Murray-Darling Basin. This is associated with the prevalence of filamentous algae that is preventing aquatic plants from completing their life-cycle and interfering with the ability of waterbirds to feed on both plants and invertebrates in mudflats. New management interventions informed by evidence may be required to support these populations and the Coorong ecosystem more generally.

The Goyder Institute for Water Research has begun investigations to support the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) by identifying management interventions to help restore the iconic Coorong. The Goyder Institute had previously provided independent, expert science advice to DEW through an Expert Panel, comprised of leading scientists with experience in all aspects of the Coorong’s ecology. The Expert Panel’s report outlined a series of short, medium and long-term actions to restore the Coorong’s South Lagoon. These recommendations, along with those identified in the Coorong Summit Summary Report informed the $70 million agreement between the Minister for Environment and Water Hon. David Speirs MP and the Murray-Darling Basin Ministers, to help get the Coorong back on track.

Approximately $2 million was released immediately to support the Commonwealth and South Australian Governments to develop the Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin Action Plan, begin planning for the Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin program and undertake urgent investigations. As part of this initial phase, the Goyder Institute and DEW have partnered to establish a project for Priority investigations to restore the ecological character of the South Lagoon of the Coorong. It includes leading scientists with expertise in the Coorong from The University of Adelaide, DEW, South Australian Research and Development Institute, Flinders University, CSIRO and The University of South Australia.

As part of this project, researchers have been assessing the Coorong’s food resources to understand how they may be influenced by different water regimes and hence affect waterbird and fish populations. This has included sampling invertebrate and fish assemblage sites along a salinity gradient of the Coorong. They found that food availability and energy content of potential food items (e.g. macroinvertebrates) for shorebirds and fish was higher in the North Lagoon and Murray Mouth compared to the South Lagoon. The total abundance of small-bodied fish was well below a long-term average.

Aquatic vegetation and filamentous algae investigations are also underway. Filamentous algae prevents aquatic plants, like Ruppia tuberosa, from completing their lifecycle. R. tuberosa is a key food for some waterbirds and provides habitat for fish. Researchers have found that filamentous algae is attaching to aquatic plants throughout much of the Coorong, reducing seed production and germination of new plants. Laboratory experiments with algal cultures have shown that algal growth can be controlled under specific temperature, salinity and nutrient conditions. This is being used to update models for predicting habitat availability for algae and aquatic plants and inform the management of existing infrastructure and assessing responses to new infrastructure that may be considered for restoring the Coorong. The researchers have also developed a new method to detect and map floating algae in the Coorong via satellite imagery. This will be used to monitor changes over time and understand the conditions under which algal blooms occur.

Early work in the project has also assessed the potential of Tolderol wetlands, which are located on the northern shores of Lake Alexandrina,  as complementary waterbird habitat for key species of the Coorong. Findings show that these man-made wetlands provide good quality habitat for waterbirds, including small migratory waders. As such, the findings provide a ‘proof of concept’ that if expanded or applied to similar managed wetlands elsewhere could provide complementary habitats to support high value, at-risk waterbirds from the Coorong. Priority wetlands have also been identified in the Lower Lakes and in the Upper South-east which may be able to provide further habitat for waterbirds and improve the health of waterbird populations within the Coorong.

The project results will inform early management interventions and feed into the design of the subsequent Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin Program, that will be aimed at restoring the Coorong ecosystem.

Contact Dr Kane Aldridge, Goyder Institute for Water Research, for more information about the project or read more about Project Coorong updates.

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.

Tags: Climate Action Coorong Lower Lakes & Murray Mouth SA Department for Environment and Water (DEW) Environmental Water Goyder Institute News Healthy Ecosystems Murray River South Australia

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Chris Wright

Manager Water Science, DEW

Chris Wright holds significant experience in public sector senior leadership, having led policy, scientific and operational business units over the last twelve years in both State and Commonwealth government agencies. Chris has excellent experiences in leading policy and strategy formulation. He is skilled in building and maintaining networks across the public and private sectors to facilitate business delivery; leading and negotiating with others to achieve outcomes; and in bridging the science-policy gap, drawing on earlier roles in geospatial information systems (GIS) consulting. Chris’s formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Social Science, a Masters of Spatial Information Science and graduation from the AICD Company Directors course in 2019.

Dr Ilka Wallis

Senior Lecturer, Flinders University

Dr Ilka Wallis is a hydrogeologist with areas of expertise in quantitative hydrogeology and geochemistry. Ilka focuses on the development of reactive geochemical transport models which integrate fundamental processes that are normally studied in isolation (hydrogeological, mineralogical, geochemical and biochemical).

Ilka is also an Adjunct Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Manitoba, Canada since 2017.

Peter Goonan

Environmental Science Branch, EPA

Peter Goonan is the Principal Aquatic Biologist in the Environmental Science Branch of the EPA. He has over 30 years’ experience monitoring the condition of aquatic ecosystems in SA and assessing the environmental effects caused by discharges, deposits and contaminants entering inland and coastal waters. He specialises in aquatic invertebrate identification and their responses to contaminants and water quality stressors. He also provides expert professional advice relating to water quality risks, regulation, policy, and strategic directions, and represents the EPA as an expert witness in court.

Dr Paul Monis

Manager, Research Stakeholders and Planning, SA Water

Dr Paul Monis is a technical expert within SA Water’s Business Services group, which provides scientific expertise to support the delivery of water and wastewater services to SA Water’s customers. He has specialist expertise in the areas of biotechnology and microbiology, with almost 20 years’ experience applying DNA-based and other technologies to address water quality challenges posed by microorganisms, especially enteric pathogens. Dr Monis also holds title of Adjunct Associate Professor at Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and UniSA.

Jennie Fluin

Principal Advisor Research Partnerships, DEW

Jennie’s role in the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) allows her to foster and strengthen opportunities for researchers to better connect with government to enable evidence-based decision making. Jennie has extensive experience working in both universities and government, allowing her to bridge the divide between the two sectors. She is focused on connecting natural resource researchers with natural resource decision makers, and facilitating fit for purpose partnerships.

Dr Tanya Doody

Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO

Dr Tanya Doody is a Principal Research Scientist working on high impact spatial eco-hydrological projects within CSIRO’s Land and Water Business Unit. Dr Doody leads the Managing Water Ecosystems Group, based in Adelaide, Albury and Canberra and has significant experience in quantifying the water requirements of vegetation and at times, their impact on water resources. This involves ecophysiological field-based research to underpin remote sensing tools to scale regionally to improve our understanding of the effect of flood regimes on the health of water-dependent ecosystems on the Murray-Darling Basin floodplains. Additional research includes investigating the ecological response of vegetation to water availability and environmental water to inform integrated basin water planning and management.

Professor Lin Crase

Dean of Programs (Accounting & Finance), UniSA

Professor Lin Crase is Professor of Economics and Dean of Programs (Accounting & Finance) at UniSA. He joined UniSA in February 2016 as Head of School of Commerce. Prior to commencing at UniSA, Lin was Professor and Director of the Centre for Water Policy and Management at La Trobe University.

Lin’s research has focused on applied economics in the context of water. He has analysed water markets and the property rights that attend them, water pricing and numerous applications of water policy. Whilst his expertise includes the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, he has also worked on projects in south Asia, Japan and Europe. Lin has published over 100 journal articles, numerous book chapters, four books and a range of other papers and opinion pieces.

Professor Justin Brookes

Director, Water Research Centre, University of Adelaide

Justin has broad research interests in limnology and water treatment with a primary focus on coupling between hydrodynamics, biology and water quality contaminants such as cyanobacteria and pathogens. He is a founding member of the management committee of the IWA Specialist Group on Lake and Reservoir Management and member of the Steering Committee for the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network.

Justin has a PhD and a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours from the University of Adelaide.

Daniel Flaherty

Accountant

Daniel Flaherty is the Accountant for the Goyder Institute for Water Research.

Daniel has extensive experience in higher education having worked in senior financial management roles at the University of South Australia, Flinders University and the University of Adelaide over the past 26 years. Daniel has also been a Board Director on a number of university related entities. Prior to that, Daniel has worked in a range of agencies in the Commonwealth and State Governments.

Daniel is a Fellow of CPA Australia and has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Adelaide.

Dr Alec Rolston

Interim Director

Alec Rolston joined the Institute in 2021 as Research Program Manager of the Goyder Institute’s research projects in the Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin program. He has extensive experience in integrated water resource management, integrated catchment management, drinking water source protection and wetland ecology, conservation and management across Europe and Australia.

Alec holds a PhD from the National University of Ireland Maynooth and has worked with An Fóram Uisce|The Water Forum and the Dundalk Institute of Technology in Ireland as well as the MANTEL Innovative Training Network across Europe.

Alec spent his early career in Adelaide working with Flinders University through the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth (CLLAMM) Ecology Research Cluster and within the Department for Environment and Water.

Daniel Pierce

Research and Development Officer

Daniel Pierce has managed research projects at the Goyder Institute for Water Research since November 2017 under both the second and third terms of the Institute.

Daniel brings experience in project management and knowledge transfer and application from 4 years working as a Senior Hydrogeologist in the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) in South Australia and from 13 years of private sector work in environmental management, science and engineering in Australia and the South Pacific. His work with DEW has included providing technical advice to the development and revision of Water Allocation Plans around South Australia in collaboration with researchers and policy makers, and managing a team of groundwater modellers and hydrogeologists involved in an assortment of water resource management issues.

Daniel has a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons, Environmental) and a Bachelor of Science (Geography) from the University of Western Australia.

Professor Enzo Lombi

Dean of Research, UniSA STEM

Professor Lombi’s main contributions to environmental research cover various aspects of contaminant risk assessment, biogeochemistry, ecotoxicology and waste management. Furthermore, the methodological development he has pursued in his research has provided the basis for collaborative efforts in a variety of research areas ranging from soil fertility and plant physiology to human health issues related to contaminant uptake via occupational exposure and diet. In the last few years he has been increasingly focusing on the transformation and toxicity of manufactured nanomaterials in the environment.

Dr Carmel Pollino

Research Director Land and Water, CSIRO

Dr Carmel Pollino is a Research Director for Land and Water at CSIRO. She has 20 years of experience working on water issues in Australia and throughout Asia. Carmel has degrees in science and environmental law and works across the science and policy interface. Significant areas of research in Environmental Flows, Hydrology, Ecology and Integrated River Basin Planning. Carmel is the lead and also a contributor to global working groups on water and has published widely in this domain.

Professor Bronwyn Gillanders

Head of School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide

Professor Bronwyn Gillanders is interim Head of School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide. Prof Gillanders completed her BSc at the University of Canterbury, MSc at the University of Otago and her PhD at the University of Sydney. She has a research background in environmental science focused predominantly on freshwater and marine ecology.

Her research interests include integrated marine management; coastal carbon opportunities; multiple use activities and cumulative impact assessment; biology, ecology and fisheries of cephalopods; stocking and provenance of fish; plastics in the marine environment including in seafood; use of fish bones (and other calcified structures) for assessing ecological and environmental change. She has trained and mentored ~70 Honours and Higher Degree Research students and shaped the future of 1000s of students through her undergraduate teaching. She is passionate about encouraging capable women to enter and remain in science careers.

Dan Jordan

Director, Water Security, Policy and Planning, Department for Environment and Water (DEW)

Dan Jordan is the Director, Water Security, Policy and Planning, Department for Environment and Water (DEW). Dan is also the Basin Officials Committee Alternate Member for South Australia.

Professor Okke Batelaan

Dean, School of the Environment, Flinders University

Professor Okke Batelaan is a graduate of the Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands (MSc – Hydrogeology) and of the Free University Brussels, Belgium (PhD – Engineering). He worked for more than 20 years at the Free University Brussels and also led the hydrogeology group at the KU Leuven, Belgium since 2006. He was chairman of the Interuniversity Programme in Water Resources Engineering.

Since 2012 Okke Batelaan is Strategic Professor in Hydrogeology and currently Dean of the School of the Environment, Flinders University. Okke has broad experience in teaching groundwater hydrology, groundwater modelling, GIS and remote sensing for hydrological applications. He was supervisor of more than 140 MSc and 25 PhD students. He has extensive research experience and a publication record in shallow groundwater hydrology and modeling, recharge-discharge estimation and modeling, urban hydrology and distributed modelling, ecohydrology and impacts of land use and climate change on groundwater systems. He coordinated and participated in a large number of projects in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia and Australia. He is editor-in-chief of Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies and of MDPI-Hydrology.