Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled from four sites on upland streams in the Wentworth Ealls area of the Blue Mountains, NSW. One site received effluent from a sewage treatment plant and the others were reference sites. Eive replicate collections were taken from each site on four occasions at intervals of 3 months. Macroinvertebrate community data were analysed using univariate (ANOVA) and multivariate (NMDS) techniques and comparisons were made between analyses at different levels of taxonomic aggregation and using different methods of data transformation. Similar pattems were observed at both species and family levels, and even the order level showed a clear community response to effluent input. Binary (presence/ absence) data provided similar results to quantitative data for the species and family levels. However, when binary data were used at the order level, the distinctions between the reference sites became blurred. We discuss the implications of these findings for environmental monitoring.

Waterways contain a chemical signature of catchment land use, climate and geology. This is increasingly being influenced by the urban landscape and particularly the composition of materials and activities that occur on impervious surfaces. This paper examines the degree and extent of two types of drainage materials, concrete and PVC, on urban water chemistry. This study found that water collected from a zinc and slate/tile roof and stored in a plastic rain tank (roof water) was acidic (pH 4.79) and had low bicarbonate concentrations (0.5 mg/l), water from an undeveloped catchment (reference creek) was mildly acidic (pH 5.5) with bicarbonate concentrations of 1.7 mg/l while water from a stream draining a residential catchment (urban creek) was mildly alkaline (pH 7.35) with bicarbonate concentrations of 36.3mg/l. The three types of water were then circulated through a concrete pipe or PVC pipe for 100 min and measured for a range of water chemical attributes. Roof water and water from the reference creek reported a significant increase across a range of analytes, most notably bicarbonate and calcium levels when passed through the concrete pipe, while water from the urban creek changed a lesser amount. When passed through the PVC pipe the changes in water chemistry were significantly less for roof water and urban creek water. The data suggests that in-transport processes from concrete drainage systems are having a significant influence on water chemistry, particularly where inflow is acidic. The major factor identified in this study could be attributed to the dissolution of calcium, bicarbonate and potassium ions from the concrete pipe. This could impact on receiving environments that are naturally acidic and low in bicarbonate, such as those in northern Sydney. The implications of this study point towards a need to consider the type of materials used in urban drainage networks if water chemistry and stream ecosystem health is to be protected.

Stormwater and other urban runoff is often conveyed by concrete infrastructure and it is plausible that the chemistry of urban streams is modified by the leaching of minerals from this infrastructure. We tested this hypothesis by analysing major anions, cations and other chemical variables from urban and reference freshwater streams in northern Sydney. Urban streams tended towards neutral pH whereas non-urban reference streams were acidic. Bicarbonate levels were more than 10 times higher and calcium concentrations were more than six times higher in urban streams than reference streams. Experimental analysis revealed that the chemistry of rainwater changed when passed through concrete pipes and down concrete gutters, suggesting dissolution of cement products from various concrete materials used for urban drainage. This study concluded that the use of concrete -particularly its application for urban drainage -is responsible for some of the modifications to urban stream geochemistry. Thus, urban geology should be considered as an important factor that contributes to the urban stream syndrome.

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a b s t r a c tSarcoptes mange is an important disease that affects the health, mobility and longevity of bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus) in Australia. We measured the activity patterns of wombats infected with varying levels of mange in an agricultural riparian environment using motion-sensing cameras. Over a 10 month period we observed a greater increase in nocturnal activity of mange-free wombats than those with mange on six or more body sections. The percentage of mange-infected wombats was greater during the day, but in the 6 h after midnight, wombats were detected with fewer mange-infected segments. Air temperature at the time of wombat detections was generally higher for individuals with mange than those without mange. Our results show that diurnal activity of wombats is likely to increase with higher levels of infection by sarcoptes mange. Increased diurnal activity is likely to present serious problems for the persistence of sustainable populations of wild wombats.