Food resource availability, energy content and nutritional value of major food sources for key fish and waterbird species under varying environmental conditions in the Coorong

Sabine Dittmann, Qifeng Ye, Deborah Furst, Anthony Newbery, Josh Nitschke, Luciana Bucater, William Pyke, Jordan Kent, Laura Schroder, Jessica Henkens, Ryan Baring, Orlando Lam-Gordillo, Justin Brookes, David Short

Research output: Book/ReportCommissioned reportpeer-review

Abstract

The Coorong is culturally, environmentally, and economically important at local, national, and international scales but has experienced a long-term decline in its ecological condition due to reductions of inflows (Brookes et al. 2018; Mosley et al. 2018). Whilst there has been recovery of some elements of the Coorong ecosystem associated with increased inflows since the Millennium Drought ended in 2010 (Dittmann et al. 2015; Hemraj et al. 2017; Brookes et al. 2022), the South Lagoon has not recovered to the levels expected. There has been a switch of the ecosystem from being dominated by aquatic plants to algae associated with eutrophication (nutrient enrichment), with subsequent impacts on macroinvertebrates, fish and waterbirds (Brookes et al. 2018). These changes in the ecosystem and the lack of recovery are likely caused by several complex, interacting factors, which are not well understood. This is limiting the capacity to forecast the ecological response to future management scenarios and therefore the capacity of water managers to identify management interventions required to improve the health of the Coorong.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationAdelaide, South Australia
PublisherGoyder Institute for Water Research
Number of pages159
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Publication series

NameGoyder Institute for Water Research Technical Report Series
PublisherGoyder Institute for Water Research
No.22/12
ISSN (Print)1839-2725

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