Adaptive management is central to improving outcomes of environmental water delivery. The Australian Government's Murray−Darling Basin (MDB) Plan 2012 explicitly states that adaptive management should be applied in the planning, prioritisation and use of environmental water. A Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) program was established in 2014 to evaluate responses to environmental water delivery for seven Areas within the MDB, with evaluation also undertaken at the Basin scale. Adaptive management at the Area scale was assessed using two approaches: (a) through a reflective exercise undertaken by researchers, water managers and community members and (b) through an independent review and evaluation of the program, where relevant reports were reviewed and managers and researchers involved in the LTIM program were interviewed. Both assessment approaches revealed that the scale of management actions influenced the extent to which learnings were incorporated into subsequent actions. Although there were many examples where learnings within an Area had been used to adaptively manage subsequent environmental water deliveries within that Area, there was inconsistent documentation of the processes for incorporating learnings into decision making. Although this likely limited the sharing of learnings, there were also examples where learnings from one Area had influenced environmental water management inanother, suggesting that sharing between concurrent projects can increase learning.The two assessments identified ways to improve and systematically document the adaptive management learnings. With improved processes to increase reflection, documentation and sharing of learnings across projects, there is an opportunity to improve management of environmental water and ecosystem outcomes. K E Y W O R D S adaptive management, decision-making, environmental water, monitoring and evaluation, Murray−Darling Basin, social learning, uncertainty
Deciphering patterns and inferring processes in multicausal floodplain river ecosystems is a challenge in river science. The effects of larger‐scale top‐down constraints and smaller‐scale bottom‐up influences on the spatial patterns of nutrient concentrations across multiple inset‐floodplain surfaces was studied in a large dryland floodplain river (Barwon‐Darling River, south‐east Australia). The distribution of sediment‐associated carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus was primarily related with significant differences in the textural character of the different floodplain surfaces. Elevation of the different floodplain surfaces above the active channel was a secondary influence on the distribution of carbon and phosphorus. Combined, these factors produce a spatial patch mosaic of sediment associated carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous across these floodplain surfaces.
The relationship between flooding, and the establishment and persistence of exotic species, is not well understood in highly variable dryland rivers. Increased moisture associated with floods is likely to stimulate establishment and growth of exotic plants, but floods may also act as a stress to exotic plants if floods last for weeks to months. This study examined how physical drivers of dryland rivers – flood inundation and geomorphology – influence the persistence of Xanthium occidentale Bertol. in the dryland Darling River, Australia. The distribution of X. occidentale was associated with flood-related moisture subsidy, moderated by channel geomorphology. Dead stalks and burrs on the ground occurred above the 8-m height of the previous flood. Adult and juvenile plants occurred below 8 m corresponding to smaller flood events. Flatter geomorphic units (floodplains and benches) contained more plants and burrs, whereas steeper geomorphic units (banks) did not retain burrs, limiting plant abundance. Flooding is not a stress to X. occidentale. A glasshouse experiment showed that flood durations of up to 40 days had minimal effect on the germination, survival and growth of X. occidentale burrs, seeds or seedlings. Weed management strategies for X. occidentale in dryland rivers could be enhanced by targeting periods following flooding when moisture availability is increased on the flatter geomorphic units in the river channel.
Evaluating wetland vegetation responses to flow regimes is challenging because of the inherently complex, variable and dynamic nature of wetland vegetation in space and time. We propose four principles to guide the development of management objectives and evaluation approaches to support adaptive management of wetland vegetation in flowmanaged systems. First, we assert a need for more explicit, direct and defensible alignment of management objectives, targets and indicators to reflect broader ecological, sociocultural and economic values, and the underlying ecosystem functions that support them. Second, we propose a framework for indicator selection across multiple spatiotemporal scales and levels of ecological organisation, from individuals to landscape mosaics (vegscapes). Third, we emphasise the need to evaluate vegetation condition and responses to environmental flows in relation to a more nuanced understanding of temporal flow dynamics. Finally, we discuss the importance of considering the effects of non-flow variables that can modify vegetation responses to environmental flows. We highlight key knowledge needs required to support the implementation of these principles, particularly the urgency of improving our understanding of ecological, sociocultural and economic values of wetland vegetation and the attributes and functions that support these values.
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