Summary 1. AusRivAS (Australian River Assessment Scheme) models were developed, using macroinvertebrates as indicators, to assess the ecological condition of rivers in Western Australia as part of an Australia‐wide program. The models were based on data from 188 minimally disturbed reference sites and are similar to RIVPACS models used in Britain. The major habitats in the rivers (macrophyte, channel) were sampled separately and macroinvertebrates collected were identified to family level. 2. Laboratory sorting of preserved macroinvertebrate samples recovered about 90% of families present when 150 animals were collected, whereas live picking in the field recovered only 76%. 3. Reference sites clustered into five groups on the basis of macroinvertebrate families present. Using seven physical variables, a discriminant function allocated 73% of sites to the correct classification group. A discriminant function based on seven physical and two chemical variables allocated 81% of sites to the correct group. However, when the same reference sites were re‐sampled the following year, the nine variable discriminant function misallocated more sites than the seven variable function, owing to annual fluctuations in water chemistry that were not accompanied by changes in fauna. 4. In preliminary testing, the wet season channel model correctly assessed 80% of reference sites as undisturbed in the year subsequent to model building (10% of sites were expected to rate as disturbed because the 10th percentile was used as the threshold for disturbance). Nine sites from an independent data set, all thought to be disturbed, were assessed as such by the model. Results from twenty test sites, chosen because they represented a wide range of ecological condition, were less clear‐cut. In its current state the model reliably distinguishes undisturbed and severely disturbed sites. Subtle impacts are either detected inconsistently or do not affect ecological condition.

The agricultural zone of southwestern Australia is an extensively modified landscape. Ninety percent of the perennial native vegetation has been cleared and replaced by annual cereal crops and pasture. Consequently, groundwater has risen and much of the region is affected by dryland salinity. River geomorphology and water quality have been severely impacted by land clearing, anthropogenic patterns of land use, and secondary salinization. The objectives of this study were to determine patterns of distribution of aquatic macroinvertebrates in the region, and to identify environmental variables influencing these patterns. Aquatic macroinvertebrates were sampled at 176 river sites during spring 1997 and a range of environmental data were collected at each site. Eighty-one families were collected, with the fauna being dominated by insects. At the family level, macroinvertebrate communities were homogeneous and depauperate, and consisted of families that tolerated a broad range of environmental conditions. The fauna was particularly resilient to high salinities, with some families tolerating salinities orders of magnitude greater than previously reported for lotic waters. The most significant environmental factors influencing the distribution of aquatic invertebrates were rainfall, salinity, land use, and instream habitat.

VHF radio-tags were attached to 16 estuarine crocodiles that were tracked between October 2001 and May 2003. Male (n = 12) and female (n = 4) crocodiles exhibited distinctly different patterns of movement. Females occupied a small core linear range (1.3 ± 0.9 km) on the main river channel during the dry season and moved up to 62 km to nesting habitat during the wet season, returning to the same core area the following dry season. They occasionally made excursions away from their core areas during the dry season. Males moved considerable distances along the Ord River throughout the year. The largest range recorded was 87 km for a 2.5-m juvenile male. However, ranges of males did not appear to be related to body size, with the largest two ranges being recorded for the smallest (2.5 m) and largest (4.3 m) males tagged. Rates of movement of males did not differ significantly between three size classes of males but there were significant seasonal differences, with the highest mean rates of movement occurring during the summer wet season (4.0 ± 5.4 km day–1). However, males were quite mobile during the dry season and the highest rate of movement detected was 23.3 km day–1 for a 4.3-m male at the end of July. The highest rate of sustained movement was 9.8 km day–1 for a translocated 2.6-m juvenile male, which travelled 118 km in 12 days to return to the area of its capture. Neither males nor females showed exclusive habitat preferences for any of four broad riverine habitats identified on the Ord River. However, the three largest males had activity centres that they returned to frequently despite numerous excursions throughout the year, both up- and downriver. Males had substantial range overlaps with no obvious spatial partitioning, suggesting that territoriality is not an important behavioural characteristic of free-ranging male crocodiles along the Ord River.

Summary 1. The northern half of Western Australia is a large, sparsely populated area with a climate that ranges from monsoonal in the Kimberley to arid in the Gascoyne and Pilbara regions. The aquatic invertebrate fauna is poorly known. 2. Fifty‐one sites located on 14 river systems were sampled three times between August 1994 and October 1995. A total of 90 taxa, most identified to family level, were collected. The fauna was dominated by insects, which constituted 74% of the total number of taxa collected. 3. Major habitats at each site were sampled separately and sites with more habitats tended to have a richer fauna. All habitats showed significant differences in taxonomic richness between regions. Family richness decreased with increasing latitude, being highest in the Kimberley region and lowest in the Gascoyne. 4. Despite the differences in taxon richness between regions, community composition of the aquatic invertebrate fauna at the family level did not differ greatly. Four major groups of sites were identified by cluster analysis, based on the invertebrate families present at each site, but differences between groups were small. 5. Significant temporal variation in taxon richness was found in channel habitat but not the three other habitats sampled (riffle, macrophyte, pool‐rocks). Community composition in channel habitat varied temporally among groups of sites identified by cluster analysis but the pattern was not consistent.

AusRivAS is an Australia-wide program that measures river condition using predictive models to compare the macroinvertebrate families occurring at a river site with those expected if the site were in natural condition. Results of assessment of 685 sites across all major rivers in Western Australia are presented. Most rivers were in relatively natural condition in the northern half of the state where the human population is low and pastoralism is the major land use. In the south, where the human population is higher and agriculture is more intensive, rivers were mostly more disturbed. AusRivAS assessment produced some erroneous results in rivers of the south-west cropping zone because of the lack of appropriate reference site groups and biased distribution of sampling sites. Collecting low numbers of animals from many forested streams, because of low stream productivity and samples that were difficult to sort, also affected assessments. Overall, however, AusRivAs assessment identified catchment processes that were inimical to river health. These processes included salinisation, high nutrient and organic loads, erosion and loss of riparian vegetation. River regulation, channel modification and fire were also associated with river degradation. As is the case with other assessment methods, one-off sampling at individual sites using AusRivAS may be misleading. Seasonal drought, in particular, may make it difficult to relate conditions at the time of sampling to longer-term river health. AusRivAS has shown river condition in Western Australia is not markedly different from other parts of Australia which, as a whole, lacks the substantial segments of severely degraded river systems reported in England.