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Recent Publications |
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Title: Identifying potential ecological indicators Authored by: Mayer, X. M. Abstract:
The Lake Warden Wetlands in Esperance, Western Australia, are RAMSAR protected wetlands because they regularly support 20 000 water birds as well as 10% of the Australian population of Hooded Plover. They are also a particularly good example of a coastal dune wetland system in south-west Western Australia. However, agricultural land use and clearing threatens the wetlands in the form of inundation, salinisation and eutrophication. In order to assess these threats, the use of ecological indicators and specifically biological indicators was suggested. Biological indicators are usually measures of community composition and function. These types of indicator are advantageous in that they can summarise remote and combine threats in the environment over some time. They are also often key to the functioning of the environment and thus a good measure of its health.
The biological indicators investigated were macroinvertebrates and riparian vegetation. Macroinvertebrate communities and riparian vegetation are both crucial to the functioning of the ecosystem, sensitive to threats in the wetland system and have been used successfully as indicators in the past. Consequently, these measures of these communities were assessed to determine whether measures of their communities could be used as ecological indicators of inundation, eutrophication and salinisation.
The project involved the development of a conceptual framework; the identification of potential indicators from previous studies and literature and the collection of field data on the riparian vegetation and macroinvertebrates of the area was collected. This data along with previous biological and chemical data was then analysed to determine what measures of these biotic communities showed the most potential as ecological indicators. It was found that the best indicators in terms of performance and practicality were understorey abundance, biodiversity and species richness; Overstorey vigour and vigour of Melalueca cuticularis; and a number of macroinvertebrate order level measures. The abundance of the understorey vegetation and the vigour of Melalueca cuticularis were the best of these. These measures showed particularly good potential because they could be measured by completely unskilled people and thus the potential existed for them to be included in the ribbons of blue programs, volunteer programs, tourism or recreation.
Reference: Mayer, X. M., 2002, Identifying potential ecological indicators, [Full Paper] | |
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