2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference

March 13 - 15, 2022

5/21/2019 | 2:00 PM - 2:15 PM | AQUATIC PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY AND ITS DRIVERS IN A TROPICAL RIVER FLOODPLAIN | 253 AB

AQUATIC PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY AND ITS DRIVERS IN A TROPICAL RIVER FLOODPLAIN

Floodplain wetlands are some of the most productive and biodiverse ecosystems on earth. The wetland systems of the Mitchell River floodplain, located in the dry tropics of Australia, provide a major subsidy of energy resources for large mobile consumers in the river system. The basal energy source comes from aquatic algal production that is influenced by different characteristic of the floodplain environment. Our aim is to use these relationships to identify and map important ‘hotspot’ areas of production that are important in sustaining aquatic food webs. Measurements were made across a range of different types of wetlands (palustrine, lacustrine and riverine) and different habitats (emergent macrophytes, floating macrophytes, submerged macrophytes and open water). Key drivers of algal production differed among wetlands rather than among different habitats. At lacustrine wetlands, euphotic depth correlated with primary productivity, whilst within open water habitats, total phosphorus concentration was more highly correlated. Identifying these key drivers of algal production will enable us to model the effects of changes in floodplain inundation from water resource development and floodplain development associated with the proposed agricultural development in the catchment.

Wetland
Floodplain
Food Webs

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Presenters/Authors

BIANCA MOLINARI (), Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, bianca.molinari@griffithuni.edu.au;