Stuart Bunn (Convenor)(s.bunn@griffith.edu.au)

Brendan Edgar (Coordinator)(b.edgar@homemail.com.au)

Climate change adaptation and Australia's water resources and freshwater biodiversity

Outline

Context – freshwater biodiversity

Direct climate change threats• Rising temperature• Rising sea level• Changing rainfall and flow regimes

Climate change in context• Climate vs direct impacts of humans on freshwater

resources

National Climate Change Adaptation Facility

• Surface freshwater habitats contain only around 0.01% of the world’s water and cover only about 0.8% of the Earth’s surface

• Yet supports 9.5% of all described animal species (~40% of fish diversity and 30% vertebrate diversity)

Freshwater biodiversity

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005

Trends in biodiversity: 1970-2000

• 10,000-20,000 freshwater species are extinct or imperiled

• In intensively developed regions, more than one-third of the species in some freshwater taxa are threatened

Population declines in freshwater are twice that of terrestrial and marine systems

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005

Anthropocene for freshwater ?

Qld Lungfish

Mary River Turtle

Freshwater biodiversity BC Sturgeon “Goddess of the Yangtze” (Baiji )

Mekong catfish

Australia’s freshwater biodiversity

• Many faunal groups are more diverse in Australia than elsewhere (e.g. galaxiid fish, parastacid crayfish, phreatoicid isopods)

• Highly diverse stygofauna

• Fish fauna is relatively depauperate (~200 spp) though shows a high degree of endemism

• Biota include relicts of Pangaean and Gondwanan origin (e.g. syncarid shrimps, petalurid dragonflies, lungfish, salamander fish)

CSIRO (2007). Climate change in Australia

Temperature

• unique endemics

• intolerant of high temperatures

• tops of mountains in mesic rainforests

• ‘mesothermal island archipelago’

Spiny crayfish - Euastacus

Rising stream temperatures

Cairns

Townsville

Mackay

Gladstone

Brisbane

Queensland

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.9.10.

11.

12.

13.

15.14.

1. E. robertsi2. E. fleckeri3. E. balanensis4. E. yigara5. E. bindal6. E. eungella7. E. monteithorium8. E. hystricosus9. E. urospinosus10. E. setosus11. E. jagara12. E. suttoni13. E. sulcatus14. E. maidae15. E. valentulus

N

400 2

4

oC800

200 1

600 3

m

E. setosus

E. sulcatus

E. urospinosusE. hystricosus

E. monteithorum

E. eungella

E. bindal

E. balanensis

E. fleckeri

E. robertsi(>1000 m)

1370 m

940 m

1280 m

1580 m

(>750 m)

(>250 m)

680 m

1340 m

1100 m

800 m

1300 m

(>500 m)

Distribution of Queensland Euastacus

M.Ponniah (2003)

Lace-eyed tree frogNyctimystes dayi

Northern TinkerfrogTaudactylus rheophilus

Torrent Tree FrogLitoria nannotis

Photo R.Alford

Photo H. Cogger

Stream-dwelling rainforest frogs… similar fate?

• Expansion of tidal channel networks• Increased storm surge

Many of northern Australia’s freshwater lagoons are low-lying (0.2–1.2 m above MHWL) and vulnerable to projected sea-level rises of 10 – 30 cms

Lowry & Knox (in prep).

Rising seas - coastal wetlands

Changing rainfall patterns

• Environment does not have same security of water entitlement as consumptive users

Reduction in stream flowse.g. Flow scenarios in the Macquarie River:• 3–10% lower rainfall by 2030, 3–10% higher evaporation and 11–32%

reduction in MAR into the Marshes by 2030• likely to result in a reduction of semi-permanent and ephemeral wetland

vegetation by 20-40%

• similar reductions (up to 30% MAR) predicted for other MDB rivers (e.g. Ovens, Goulburn)

Dryland rivers - water holes

Refugia for aquatic biota

Hamilton et al. (2005) L&O 50, 743-54.

Waterhole persistence

1950 1951 1952 1953

400

300

200

100

GL/day

21 months – longest spell

• Long dry spells with little local rainfall

• High evaporation (2-3m), Shallow (often <2 m)

• Topped up by surface flow - no groundwater inputs

~ 40 waterholes

Dry spell < 2 years

Australia’s freshwater biodiversity in a future climate?• Loss of some endemics – even under conservative temperature scenarios

(e.g. mountain islands)

• Losses of freshwater wetlands and associated biota - rising sea levels (tidal intrusion + storm surge)

• Changing flow regimes (drier and more variable; higher evaporation?) - increased pressure on refugia

• Direct effects of humans on rivers will be more significant in the short term – urban expansion and increased agricultural demand for water.

• Climate variability – compound this further as we attempt to drought proof our cities.

Adaptation challenge:How do we meet these growing demands without causing further declines in biodiversity and ecosystem health?

Australian; 16/07/2009

Age; 20/07/2009

Sunday Age; 19/07/2009

Sunday Mail Adelaide; 19/07/2009

Australian Journal Of Mining; 01/08/2009

Countryman; 16/07/2009

Sunraysia Daily; 15/07/2009

Sunraysia Daily; 16/07/2009

Water & climate news

Courier Mail04-Dec-2009

Australian 16-Nov-2009

Sunday Mail Adelaide 15-Nov-2009

Adelaide Advertiser;16/07/2009

• Irrigated area not likely to increase very much over coming decades

• Major new irrigation infrastructure development unlikely (i.e. financial and physical limits)

• Potential for agriculture to use recycled and desalinated water marginal and costly

• High priority to improve productivity of existing irrigation system, and raise the water productivity of rain-fed agricultural systems.

Megalitres

per hectare of irrigated land

1990-92 1995-97 2001-03

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Australia Spain United

Mexico Turkey Greece Portugal ItalyStates

% change

1900-92 to 2001-03

-50%

-19%+7%

-3%

na-10% -12% +69%

OECD study on agricultural water use

Calls to ‘drought-proof’ our citiesIn the face of growing population and greater variability and uncertainty in rainfall and runoff:

Southern ‘pipe’ dreams

South East Queensland water grid

• new dams• Desalination• Potable re-use• interbasin transfers• little discussion of

environmental flow provisions

Mary River

Threatened freshwater species

Photo: Scott Lamond

Adaptation themes

Reg

iona

l nod

es

Qld Griffith U

WA Murdoch U

SA Adelaide U

Vic UniWater

Tas U Tasmania

ACT Capital-WATER

NSW Newcastle U

NT Charles Darwin U

Climate Change AdaptationResearch Facility

Water Resources & Freshwater Biodiversity NetworkHosted by Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University

Governance Water Resources Freshwater biodiversity

Climate scenarios

Node Host

NCCARF Water network

Partners

• Griffith University• University of Adelaide• Australian National University• Charles Darwin University• CSIRO• James Cook University• MDFRC/LaTrobe• Melbourne University• Monash University• Murdoch University• Museum of Victoria• NRETA

• NSW Dept Climate Change• Qld University of Technology• SAWater• SARDI• University of Canberra• University of Newcastle• University of New South Wales• University of Southern Qld• University of Tasmania• University of Technology Sydney• University of Western Australia• UniWater

Current - research

• State and Territory natural resource management agencies• Local Government • Catchment management authorities• Industry

Representative bodies

Agriculture, mining, consulting firms

Through nodes

Network themesClimate Scenarios• develop scenarios of likely climate change and its implications for freshwater

biodiversity and water resources

Governance• inform development of water allocation and market arrangements that support

adaptation to climate change

Water Resources• inform policies and management practices for interception activities (including farms

dams, plantation forestry) and the joint management of surface and groundwater

Freshwater Biodiversity• inform adaptive management of environmental flows and other mitigation strategies to

protect freshwater biodiversity and maintain aquatic ecosystem health

Capacity Building• building the capability of science and management to coordinate and deliver adaptive

management responses

Water Resources and Freshwater Biodiversity

NetworkClimate scenarios

Settlements and Infrastructure

Theme

Water security - desalination, PRW

stormwater quantityGovernance

Marine Biodiversity and Resources Theme

Estuarine ecosystems - environmental flows,

wastewater management

Primary industries Theme

Crop water use efficiency

Water Resources

Human health Theme

Water-borne disease

Freshwater biodiversity

Terrestrial Biodiversity Theme

Terrestrial biodiversity- Links to wetlands and groundwater dependent

ecosystemsCapacity Building

Links with other networks

Current network activities

• Coordinating research proposals (NARP)• Synthesis papers/ fact sheets on Themes and Issues• Scholarships/bursaries• Network communication and workshops• Network expansion – jurisdictions

Questions?

Climate Scenarios

• Downscaling climate models• Modelling extreme events• Understanding past and present hydro-climate• Vegetation/ water relationships

Water Resources• Integrated hydrologic modelling• Energy/ food/ supply-demand• Coastal vulnerability• Groundwater/ surface water management

Governance• Institutional and legal Structures• Water pricing and markets• Water planning• Regional planning

Freshwater Biodiversity• Species distribution and climate relationships• Flow and habitat management• Refugia and reserve design• Fragmentation and barriers

Capacity Building

• Professional capability• Science communication• Institutional Capacity• Research opportunities