Journal article
Groundwater change forecasts widespread forest dieback across an extensive floodplain system
SC Cunningham, JR Thomson, R Mac Nally, J Read, PJ Baker
Freshwater Biology | WILEY | Published : 2011
Abstract
Regulation of rivers for human demands has led to extensive forest dieback on many floodplains. If these important ecosystems are to be maintained under future drier climates, we need accurate tools for predicting forest dieback. In the absence of spatially explicit flooding histories for many floodplains, changes in groundwater conditions may be a good indicator of water availability and, therefore, an important environmental indicator. Eucalyptus camaldulensis forests of Australia are an acute example of forest dieback, with 70% of the Victorian Murray River floodplain dying back. We quantified the relationship between forest dieback and ground water across this extensive floodplain (c. 10..
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Awarded by ARC
Funding Acknowledgements
This research was funded by an ARC linkage grant (LP0560518, which was partially supported by the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and four Victorian Catchment Management Authorities (Mallee CMA, North Central CMA, Goulburn-Broken CMA and North-East CMA). Groundwater data from monitoring bores were supplied by Sinclair Knight Merz from the DSE Statewide Groundwater Management System. Environmental data layers were supplied by the DSE's Corporate Geospatial Data Library and the Australian Greenhouse Office (Landsat7 data). We thank Peter Griffioen for building ANN. This is contribution No. 205 from the Australian Centre for Biodiversity.