A functional methodology for determining the groundwater regime needed to maintain the health of groundwater-dependent vegetation

Abstract

In the past, the phrase ‘environmental allocations of water’ has most often been taken to mean allocation of water to rivers. However, it is now accepted that groundwater-dependent ecosystems are an important feature of Australian landscapes and require an allocation of water to maintain their persistence in the landscape. However, moving from this theoretical realisation to the provision and implementation of a field-based management regime is extremely difficult. The following four fundamental questions are identified as being central to the effective management of groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs): (1) How do we identify GDEs in the field; put another way, which species or species assemblages or habitats are reliant on a supply of groundwater for their persistence in the landscape; (2) what groundwater regime is required to ensure the persistence of a GDE; (3) how can managers of natural resources (principally water and habitats), with limited time, money and other resources, successfully manage GDEs; and (4) what measures of ecosystem function can be monitored to ensure that management is effective? This paper explicitly addresses these questions and provides a step-by-step theoretical and practical framework for providing answers. In particular, this paper provides an introduction to some of the relevant literature and from this, presents a synthesis, presented in the form of a functional methodology for managing groundwater dependent ecosystems.

Groundwater-dependent ecosystems: recent insights from satellite and field-based studies

“…Whilst Hatton and Evans (1998) recognised five classes of ecosystem dependency on groundwater, we use the simplified classification system proposed by Eamus et al (2006b):…”

Groundwater circulation relative to water quality and vegetation in an arid transitional zone linking oasis, desert and river

“…Groundwater in oasis and riparian zone is charactered by modern age, shallow depth, and low salinity. The study on the relationship between vegetation coverage and groundwater circulation is of great importance for recovering degraded ecosystem and managing groundwater dependent ecosystems in the (semi)arid areas, such as other arid areas in NW China [53], southwestern United States [54] and Australia [55,56].…”

“…Vegetation distribution and its effect on hydrological processes [21], water sources of plants [22], ecological water requirement and ecohydrological water-table [23,24] and ecohydrological process simulation [25] are main study focuses in the present research in arid ecohydrology. However, less attention is paid towards the impacts of groundwater circulation on water quality and soil moisture and how it is related to surface vegetation [26,27].…”

Groundwater-dependent ecosystems: the where, what and why of GDEs

“…Groundwater resource managers commonly ask how much water can be taken from the aquifer while still maintaining a low level of risk to GDEs. This requires quantified information on the relationship between the health of a GDE and groundwater depth (or other parameter; see Eamus et al 2006a). Recommendations are generally made by defining the acceptable level to which groundwater can be allowed to fall, while maintaining important environmental values (see Murray et al 2006).…”