Resilience of trees and the vulnerability of grasslands to climate change in temperate Australian wetlands

Saintilan, Neil; Bowen, Sharon; Maguire, Owen; Karimi, Sara Shaeri; Wen, Lei; Powell, Megan; Colloff, Matthew J.; Sandi, Steven G.; Saco, Patricia M.; Rodríguez, J. F.

doi:10.1007/s10980-020-01176-5

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…There have been major changes in flow and flood regimes to most major wetlands in the Basin (Sims et al 2012). These changes have had direct adverse effects on ecological character due to declines in the condition and extent of vegetation communities (Bowen and Simpson 2010;Saintilan et al 2021), reductions in the abundance and breeding frequency of waterbirds (Kingsford et al 2017), the health of floodplain trees (Mac Nally et al 2011) and increased damage due to invasive species (Stuart et al 2021). Despite these negative impacts, there have only been two notifications of change in ecological character provided by the Commonwealth Government to the Ramsar Secretariat under Article 3.2 of the Ramsar Convention since Australia became a contracting party in December 1975 (Table 1).…”

Section: Changes In Ecological Character and Continuing Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lacking character? A policy analysis of environmental watering of Ramsar wetlands in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

Kirsch

Colloff

Pittock

2021

Mar. Freshwater Res.

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Freshwater ecosystems are among the most vulnerable and endangered in the world, facing continued uncertainty under climate change, development of water resources and land use change. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands ( 1971) is one of the longest-standing international agreements on biodiversity conservation. Its central objective is the maintenance of the ecological character of Wetlands of International Importance and the wise use of all wetlands. Here, we examine how the maintenance of ecological character has been addressed in Australia as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, one of the most ambitious water reform programs to be undertaken globally and intended to restore water from irrigated agriculture to the environment. We analyse policy and planning documents from Commonwealth and state jurisdictions on the management of environmental water. Despite stated objectives to conserve Ramsar wetlands in the Basin Plan, we found a pattern of complex and convoluted arrangements for delivering environmental water to Ramsar wetlands and a lack of transparency and accountability about how Ramsar obligations are considered within each jurisdiction. We conclude that consideration of the ecological character of Ramsar wetlands has been marginalised by governments when managing environmental water, despite the statutory requirements to maintain these wetlands.

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Section: Changes In Ecological Character and Continuing Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lacking character? A policy analysis of environmental watering of Ramsar wetlands in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

Kirsch

Colloff

Pittock

2021

Mar. Freshwater Res.

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“…Long-term mapping of some of the most extensive E. camaldulensis forests (the Barmah-Millewa Forest and the Macquarie Marshes) using historical aerial photography suggests a substantial increase in extent at the expense of wetland grassland communities over recent decades. For example, in the Barmah-Millewa Forest (35850 0 S, 145800 0 E), the largest stand of E. camaldulensis in Australia, forest extent has expanded since the 1940s (Bren 1992;Colloff et al 2014;Saintilan et al 2021), primarily into areas previously occupied by flood-dependent Moira grass Pseudoraphis spinescens. Under natural recruitment regimes, E. camaldulensis stands in the forest were at higher densities and higher canopy cover following the Millennium Drought compared with the historical, pre-logging era in the previous century (McGregor et al 2016).…”

Section: Observations Of Forested Wetland Resilience and Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Under natural recruitment regimes, E. camaldulensis stands in the forest were at higher densities and higher canopy cover following the Millennium Drought compared with the historical, pre-logging era in the previous century (McGregor et al 2016). In the Macquarie Marshes (30843 0 S, 147832 0 E), E. camaldulensis forest extent increased between 1991 and 2013 (Bino et al 2015;Bowen et al 2017;Saintilan et al 2021). Although mortality has been reported during and after the Millennium Drought (Catelotti et al 2015), dead trees were clustered primarily in areas that were already identified as stressed (Table 1) during a benchmark survey in 1993 (Bacon 1996).…”

Section: Observations Of Forested Wetland Resilience and Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In dryland grasslands at the arid limits of tree growth, elevated atmospheric CO 2 may facilitate woody plant survival by conferring higher water use efficiency (Idso 1992;Polley (Saintilan et al 2014(Saintilan et al , 2021Sandi et al 2019), although differences in growth habit and location may also confer resilience to larger, thicker rushes and reeds. Atmospheric CO 2 fertilisation may be an important factor contributing to Eucalyptus survival on the outer flood plains of Australian semi-arid rivers where water diversions for irrigation have resulted in decreases in the inundation extent and frequency of flood events (Sims et al 2012;Saintilan and Rogers 2015).…”

Section: Consistency With Global Patterns Of Change and Climate Driversmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we consider trends in mangrove and river red gum forest cover, reviewing the most extensive available mapping (Bowen et al 2017;Lymburner et al 2020;Saintilan et al 2021), applying common mapping protocols to assess changes in spatial distribution and canopy cover through time. Although phases of drought clearly affect canopy condition and mortality rates in both forest types, we provide evidence of an overarching pattern of long-term expansion in forest cover, a likely outcome of global climate drivers.…”

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Australian forested wetlands under climate change: collapse or proliferation?

Saintilan

Asbridge

Lucas

et al. 2021

Mar. Freshwater Res.

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Climatically driven perturbations (e.g. intense drought, fire, sea surface temperature rise) can bring ecosystems that are already stressed by long-term climate change and other anthropogenic impacts to a point of collapse. Recent reviews of the responses of Australian ecosystems to climate change and associated stressors have suggested widespread ecosystem collapse is occurring across multiple biomes. Two commonly cited case studies concern forested wetland ecosystems: mangrove forest dieback in northern Australia (2015–16) and riverine forest dieback in the south-east of the continent (2002–09). We present an alternative interpretation that emphasises the dominant signal of climate change effects, rather than the interdecadal signal of climate variability that drives wetland forest dynamics. For both the south-east Australian riverine forests and mangroves of northern Australia, aerial extent remains greater after dieback than in the early 1990s. We interpret dieback and defoliation in both systems as a dry phase response and provide evidence of a current and near-future climate change trajectory of increased areal extent and cover (i.e. tree colonisation and range infilling). In both case studies, climate change-driven increases in tree cover and extent are occurring at the expense of wetland grasslands and the important ecosystem functions they support.

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The Dammed and the Saved: a Conservation Triage Framework for Wetlands under Climate Change in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

Schweizer

Colloff

Pittock

2022

Environmental Management

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As the impacts of climate change and water demands from irrigation continue to increase in the Murray–Darling Basin, water for the environment is becoming more scarce and the ecological conditions of many wetlands is poor. With water scarcity, conservation triage is becoming an increasingly relevant management option for environmental watering of wetlands. However, triage is controversial; being considered contrary to current conservation objectives and practices. We assessed environmental watering at two Ramsar wetlands, Macquarie Marshes and Gunbower Forest, based on international environmental treaty obligations and domestic policy settings, changes to flow regimes, wetland condition and current management. Triage decision making was found to be in tacit use at Macquarie Marshes, based on ‘rules of thumb’ and experiential ecohydrological knowledge, whereas formal environmental watering planning formed the basis for triage decision making at Gunbower Forest. We developed a framework for conservation triage of wetlands in the Murray–Darling Basin to stimulate change in the decision context for wetland conservation and adaptation under climate change. Conservation triage entails reframing of relationships between people and nature and values, rules and knowledge used by stakeholders. Because water is the medium by which wetland conservation outcomes eventuate, trade-offs between competing water uses can be realised with the triage framework.

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Resilience of trees and the vulnerability of grasslands to climate change in temperate Australian wetlands

Cited by 10 publications

References 54 publications

Lacking character? A policy analysis of environmental watering of Ramsar wetlands in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

Lacking character? A policy analysis of environmental watering of Ramsar wetlands in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

Australian forested wetlands under climate change: collapse or proliferation?

The Dammed and the Saved: a Conservation Triage Framework for Wetlands under Climate Change in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

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