Can conservation assessment criteria developed for terrestrial systems be applied to riverine systems?
Keywords:
aquatic biodiversity, values, protection, Australian PoliciesAbstract
Australia's aquatic ecosystems are of outstanding diversity and interest on a world scale. As one of the world's driest continents, its water resources are under growing pressure, yet there are no systematic conservation efforts. Any moves towards aquatic biodiversity conservation must be pursued within appropriate scientific, policy, and management contexts. A key starting point is the articulation of aquatic conservation values.
Concepts and criteria for biodiversity conservation are well established in the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems in Australia. They are often framed within legislation or derived through policy and practice. If freshwater biodiversity is to be conserved, then conservation criteria and methods of assessment need be integrated with possible mechanisms for protection. So it is useful to examine whether the criteria and thresholds applied to terrestrial systems are valid and appropriate for freshwater ecosystems.
Two key questions are discussed: are commonly applied conservation criteria appropriate and adequate for aquatic ecosystems? and, is it feasible to apply criteria used in terrestrial systems to aquatic systems? The discussion is informed by evidence from two perspectives: a survey of views of river scientists and managers, and analysis of field studies of river conservation assessments in Australia.
The data suggest that while the basic concepts that define biodiversity value can be applied to aquatic systems, difficulties are apparent in applying and interpreting the thresholds and decision rules used for terrestrial systems. In addition, the survey of scientists and managers in Australia showed that landscape scale values and riverine functions should be incorporated in the assessment and protection of riverine systems.
The analysis concludes that conservation of freshwater biodiversity in Australia needs to be founded upon national legislation and policies for biodiversity conservation alongside conservation of terrestrial systems. However, different approaches to defining and assessing biodiversity value of freshwater ecosystems will need to be explored and specified.
References
Allan, J. D. and Flecker, A. S. 1993. Biodiversity conservation in running waters: Identifying the major factors that threaten destruction of riverine species and ecosystems. Bioscience, 43: 32–43.
Allan, J. D. and Johnson, L. B. 1997. Catchment scale analysis of aquatic ecosystems. Freshwater Biology, 37: 107–111.
Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand (ANZECC and ARMCANZ). 1994. National Water Quality Management Strategy
Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC). 1998. Guidelines for Establishing the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas, Canberra: Environment Australia.
Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC). 1999. Strategy Action Plan for the National Representative System of Marina Protected Areas, Canberra: Environment Australia.
AUSRIVAS. Retrieved September 11, 2002 from http//ausrivas/canberra.edu.au
Ball, J., Donnelley, L., Erlanger, P., Evans, R., Kollmorgen, A., Neal, B. and Shirley, M. 2001. Inland Waters. Australia State of the Environment Report 2001, Canberra: Theme Report CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Heritage.
Barmuta, L. A., Marchant, R. and Lake, P. S. 1992. “Degradation of Australian streams and progress towards conservation and management in Victoria”. In River Conservation and Management, Edited by: Boon, P. J., Calow, P. and Petts, G. E. Chicester: John Wiley.
Bennett, J., Sanders, N., Moulton, D., Phillips, N., Lukacs, G., Walker, K. and Redfern, F. 2002. Guidelines for Protecting Australian Waterways, Canberra: Land and Water Australia.
Blyth, J. D. Survey methods for nature conservation. Proceedings of a workshop held at Adelaide University. August 31 1983. Rapid stream survey to assess conservation value and habitats available for invertebrates., Edited by: Meyers, K., Margulas, C. R. and Musto, I. Vol. 1, pp.343–375. Canberra: CSIRO Division of Land and Water Resources. 2 September
Boon, P. J., Holmes, N. T. H., Maitland, P. S., Rowell, T. A. and Davies, J. 1997. “A system for evaluating rivers for conservation SERCON : Development, structure and function.”. In Freshwater Quality: Defining the Indefinable?, Edited by: Boon, P. J. and Howell, D. L. 299–326. Edinburgh: The Stationery Office.
Boon, P. J. 2000. The development of integrated methods for assessing river conservation value. Hydrobiologia, 422/423: 413–428.
Campbell, I. C., McKaige, M. E. and Lake, P. S. 1986. “The fauna of Australian high mountain streams: ecology, zoogeography and evolution.”. In Flora and Fauna of Alpine Australia: Ages and Origins, Edited by: Barton, B. A. CSIRO Melbourne.
Chessman, B. 2002. Assessing the conservation value and health of NSW rivers: the Pressure, Biota, Health Project, Parramatta: Centre for Natural resources, NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation.
Collier, K. J. 1993. Towards a protocol for assessing the natural value of New Zealand rivers, Science and Research Series No. 58 Wellington, , New Zealand: Department of Conservation.
Commonwealth of Australia. 1992. National Forest Policy Statement , 2nd edition 1995. http://www.rfa.gov.au/rfa/national/nfps/ index.html
Council of Australian Governments (COAG). 1994. Water resources policy
Council of Australian Governments (COAG). 2000. National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality
Davies, P. E. 2000. “Development of a national river bioassessment system AUSRIVAS in Australia.”. In Assessing the Biological Qualify of Fresh-water, Edited by: Wright, J. R., Sutcliffe, D. W. and Furse, M. T. 113–124. Cumbria, , UK: Freshwater Biological Association.
Davies, P. E. and McKenny, C. E. A. 1997. Tasmanien stream macroinvertebrates: Sampling to complete biodiversity assessment and modelling and classification of stream sites, Report to the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement Environment and Heritage Technical Committee.
Department of Environment, Sport and Territories (DEST). 1996a. Australia State of the environment, Collingwood: CSIRO.
Department of Environment, Sport and Territories (DEST). 1996b. The National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biodiversity, Canberra: DEST.
Department of Environment, Sport and Territories (DEST). 1997. Australia's biodiversity: an overview of selected significant components, Biodiversity Series No. 2 Canberra: DEST.
Doeg, T. J. 1995. “An assessment of the aquatic macroinvertebrate fauna of three areas of East Gippsland, Victoria”. In National Estate Grant Program Project final report, Victoria: Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Doeg, T. J. 1997. A conservation assessment of the aquatic macroinvertebrate fauna in the Grampians National Park. Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria, 56: 467–473.
Downes, B. J., Lake, P. S. and Schrieber, E. S. G. 1993. Spatial variation in the distribution of stream invertebrates: implications of patchiness for models of community organisation. Freshwater Biology, 30: 119–132.
Dunn, H. 2000. Identifying and protecting rivers of high ecological value, Occasional paper No. 01/00 Canberra: Land Water Resources Research and Development Corporation.
Dunn, H. 2001. “Applying conservation assessment to Australian rivers: a case study using macroinvertebrates”. School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania. Unpublished PhD thesis
Dunn H. unpublished. Defining the ecological values of rivers: the views of Australian river scientists and managers.
Environment Australia Australian Rivers and Catchments. Retrieved October 15,2002 from (http://www.heritage.gov.au/anlr/code/arc.html)
Environment Australia Biodiversity. Retrieved October 4, 2002 from (http://www.ea.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened.html)
Environment Australia (EA). 1997. Wetlands policy of the Commonwealth Government of Australia, Canberra: Environment Australia.
Environment Australia Heritage. Retrieved September 11, 2002 from (http://www.ea.gov.au/heritage/law/heritageact/index.html)
Environment Australia Inland Waters. Retrieved September 11, 2002 from (http://www.ea.gov.au/water/wetlands/ramsar/database/ index.html)
Environment Australia National Reserve System [a]. Retrieved September 11, 2002 from (www.ea.gov.au/parks/nrs)
Environment Australia National Reserve System [b]. Retrieved September 11, 2002 from (http://www.ea.gov.au/parks/nrs/ ibraimcr/index.html)
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, 1999. Canberra.
European Commission. 1992. Council directive of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora 92/43/EEC. Official Journal of the European Communities, 206: 7–50.
European Commission, 1999. Directorate-General XI. Policy Areas: Protection of nature and biodiversity.
Crowns, J. E. and Crowns, I. O. 1997. Predicting species richness for Australasian freshwater macroinvertebrates: do we want to know?. Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria, 56: 483–490.
Halvoresen, G., Eie, J. A. and Faugli, P. E. 1998. A national plan for protecting river systems in Norway. Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol., 26: 2417–2423.
Harper, D. M., Smith, C. D. and Barham, P. J. 1992. “Habitats as the building blocks for river conservation assessment.”. In River Conservation and Management, Edited by: Boon, P. J., Calow, P. and Petts, G. E. 311–319. Chichester: John Wiley.
Harris, J. H. 1995. The use of fish in ecological assessments. Australian Journal of Ecology, 20: 65–80.
Harris, J. H. and Silveira, R. 1999. Large-scale assessment of river health using an Index of Biotic Integrity with low-diversity fish communities. Freshwater Biology, 41: 235–252.
Hawking, J. H. 1999. “An evaluation of the current conservation status of Australian dragonflies Odonata.”. In The Other 99%: The Conservation and Biodiversity of Invertebrates, Edited by: Ponder, W. and Lunney, D. 354–60. Mosman 2088: Transactions of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.
Hewlett, R. 2000. Implications of taxonomic resolution and sample habitat for stream classification at a broad geographic scale. Journal of the North American Benthological Association, 19: 352–361.
Holmes, N. T., Boon, P. J. and Rowell, T. A. 1999. Vegetation Communities of British Rivers--A Revised Classification. Consultation paper for the Joint Nature Conservation Council, Peterborough: Department of Environment and Heritage.
Horwitz, P. 1988. Sea level fluctuations and the distributions of some freshwater crayfishes of the genus Engeaus (Decapoda: Parastiocidae) in the Bass Strait area. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 39: 497–614.
Horwitz, P. 1990. The conservation status of Australian freshwater Crustacea with a provisional list of threatened species, habitats and potentially threatening processes. Australian Parks and Wildlife Service Canberra,
Hutchings, P. A. and Ponder, W. F. 1999. “Workshop: criteria for assessing and conserving threatened invertebrates.”. In The Other 99%. The Conservation and Biodiversity of Invertebrate, Edited by: Ponder, W. and Lunney, D. 297–315. Mosman: Transactions of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.
Hynes, H. B. N. 1989. “Tasmanian Plecoptera”. Australian Society for Limnology Special Publication No. 8 Victoria: Mulgrave.
Hynes, H. B. N. and Hynes, M. E. 1980. The endemism of Tasmanian stoneflies. (Plecoptera) Aquatic Insects, 2: 81–89.
International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Retrieved January 27, 2001 from (http://www.iucn.org/redlist/2000/index.html)
Johnson, L. B. and Gage, S. H. 1997. Landscape approaches to the analysis of aquatic ecosystems. Freshwater Biology, 37: 113–132.
Joint ANZEECCVMCFFA National Forest Policy Statement Implementation Sub-committee (JANIS). 1996. Proposed nationally agreed criteria for the establishment of a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system for forests in Australia. Report of the Subcommittee, Website http://www. rfa.gov.au/rfa/national/janis/index.html
Kitching, R. L. 1999. “Adapting conservation legislation to the idiosyncrasies of the arthropods.”. In The Other 99%: The Conservation and Biodiversity of Invertebrates, Edited by: Ponder, W. and Lunney, D. 274–82. Mosman, NSW: Transactions of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.
Lake, P. S. 1995. “Of floods and droughts: river and stream ecosystems of Australia.”. In River and Stream Ecosystems, Ecosystems of the World No. 22 Edited by: Cushing, C. E., Cummins, K. W. and Minshall, G. W. 659–693. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Lake, P. S. and Marchant, R. 1990. Australian upland streams: ecological degradation and possible restoration. Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia, 16: 79–91.
Lesslie, R. and Maslen, M. 1995. “National wilderness inventory Australia”. In Handbook of procedures, content and usage, Canberra: Australian Heritage Commission.
Lunney, D. and Ponder, W. 1999. “Emergent themesfrom The Other99%.”. In The Other 99%: The Conservation and Biodiversity of Invertebrates, Edited by: Ponder, W. and Lunney, D. 446–54. Mosman, NSW: Transactions of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.
Macmillan, L. A. Survey methods for nature conservation. Proceedings of a workshop. 1983, Adelaide. A method for identifying small streams of high conservation value., Edited by: Myers, M. K. and Margules, C. R. Canberra: CSIRO.
Marchant, R., Barmuta, L. A. and Chessman, B. C. 1994a. Preliminary study of the ordination and classification of macroinvertebrate communities from running waters in Victoria, Australia. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 45: 945–962.
Marchant, R., Barmuta, L. A. and Chessman, B. C. 1994b. Influence of sample quantification and taxonomic resolution on the ordination of macroinvertebrate communities from running water in Victoria, Australia. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 46: 501–506.
Marchant, R., Hirst, A., Norris, R. and Metzling, L. 1999. Classification of macroinvertebrate communities across drainage basins in Victoria, Australia: consequences of sampling on a broad spatial scale for predictive modelling. Freshwater Biology, 41: 253–268.
Moss, B. 2000. Biodiversity in freshwaters-an issue of species preservation or system functioning?. Environmental Conservation, 27: 1–4.
Moyle, P. B. and Yoshiyama, R. M. 1994. Protection of aquatic biodiversity in California: a five-tiered approach. Fisheries, 19: 6–18.
Naiman, R. J., Lonzarich, D. G., Beechie, T. J. and Ralph, S. C. 1992. “General principles of classification and the assessment of conservation potential in rivers.”. In River Conservation and Management, Edited by: Boon, P. J., Calow, P. and Petts, G. E. 93–123. Chichester: John Wiley.
Neboiss, A. 1981. Tasmanian Caddis Flies, Fauna of Tasmania Handbook no 4 University of Tasmania Hobart.
New South Wales Department of Land and Water Conservation (NSW DLWC). 1998. Stressed Rivers Assessment Report. NSW State summary, Sydney: NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation.
Oliver, I., Beattie, A. J. and York, A. 1998. Spatial fidelity of plant, vertebrate and invertebrate assemblages in multiple-use forest in Eastern Australia. Conservation Biology, 12(4): 822–835.
Public Land Use Commission (PLUC). 1997. Tasmania-Commonwealth Regional Forest Agreement, Hobart: National Estate Report. Background Report Part H. Tasmanian Public Land Use Commission.
Quinn, J. M. and Hickey, C. W. 1990. Characterisation and classification of benthic invertebrate communities in 88 New Zealand rivers in relation to environmental factors. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 24: 387–409.
Raven, P. J., Holmes, N. T. H., Dawson, F. H., Fox, P. J. A., Everard, M., Fozzard, I. R. and Rouen, K. J. 1998. River habitat quality, River Habitat Survey report no 2 Bristol: Environment Agency.
Schofield, N. J., Collier, K. J., Quinn, J., Sheldon, F. and Thorns, M. C. 2000. “Australia and New Zealand.”. In Global Perspectives on River Conservation: Science Policy and Practice, Edited by: Boon, P. and Davies, B. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.
State of Victoria, Department of Natural Resources and Environment. 2002. Healthy Rivers, Healthy Communities and Regional Growth: Victorian River Health Strategy, Melbourne: Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Stein, J. L., Stein, J. A. and Nix, H. A. 1998. The identification of wild rivers: methodology and database development, Canberra: Environment Australia.
Strahler, A. N. 1957. Qualitative analysis of watershed geomorphology. American Geophysical Union Transactions, 38: 913–920.
Taylor, R. W. 1983. “Descriptive taxonomy: past, present and future”. In Australian Systematic Entomology: A Bicentenary Perspective, Edited by: Highley, E. and Taylor, R. W. Melbourne: CSIRO.
Turak, E., Flack, L. K., Morris, R. H., Simpson, J. and Waddell, N. 1999. Assessment of river condition at a large spatial scale using predictive models. Freshwater Biology, 41(2): 283–298.
White, M. E. 2000. Running Down: Water in a Changing Land, Sydney: Kangaroo Press.
Whiting, A. S., Lawler, S. H., Horwitz, P. and Crandall, K. A. 2000. Biogeographic regionalisation of Australia: assigning conservation priorities based on endemic freshwater crayfish phylogenetics. Animal Conservation, 3: 155–163.
Williams, W. D. 1980. Australian Freshwater Life, South Melbourne: MacMillan.
Wilson, G. D. F. and Johnson, R. T. 1999. “Ancient endemism among freshwater isopods Crustacea: Phreatoicidea.”. In The Other 99%: The Conservation and Biodiversity of Invertebrates, Edited by: Ponder, W. and Lunney, D. 264–268. Mosman, NSW: Transactions of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.
World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC). 1996. Assessing Biodiversity Status and Sustainability, Cambridge, , UK: WCMC--World Conservation Press.
World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC). 1998. Freshwater Biodiversity: A Preliminary Global Assessment, Cambridge, , UK: WCMC--World Conservation Press.
Wright, J. F., Moss, D., Armitage, P. D. and Furse, M. T. 1984. A preliminary classification of running water sites in Great Britain based on macroinvertebrate species and the prediction of community typing using environmental data. Freshwater Biology, 14: 221–256.
Zwick, P. 1992. Stream habitat fragmentation-a threat to biodiversity. Biodiversity and Conservation, 1: 80–97.
Zwick, P. 2000. Phylogenetic system and zoogeography of the Plecoptera. Annual Review of Entomology, 45: 709–74.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Manuscripts must be original. They must not be published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. It is required that the lead author of accepted papers complete and sign the MSU Press AEHM Author Publishing Agreement and provide it to the publisher upon acceptance.
