Sébastien Lamontagne presents the overview of the final CLLAMMecology technical briefing.

1. HEADLINE TO BE PLACED IN
THIS SPACE
CLLAMMecology Overview
Sébastien Lamontagne
CSIRO Land and Water &
Water for a Healthy Country Flagship
CLLAMMecology Research Cluster partners:

2. The Coorong, Lower Lakes
and Murray Mouth
• Irrigated agriculture
• Tourism and fisheries
• Ramsar-listed wetland
(1985)
• Living Murray Icon site
• Traditional country of the
Ngarrindgeri

3. Ecological
impacts
• Low River Murray
inflows due to
diversion and a
drought
• Hypersalinisation of
the Coorong
• Siltation of Murray
Mouth channel
• Declining water level
in the Lower Lakes

4. The need
• CLLAMM workshop in 2004 with
managers and scientists
• Agreement that a tool was required to
assess ecological impacts in the region
• Several ecological knowledge gaps
• Scope for management intervention
mainly in the Coorong at that time

5. CLLAMMecology
(2006–09)
Improve ecological
knowledge in the
CLLAMM region
• Emphasis on the Coorong
• Some research on the
Lower Lakes
• Develop an ecological
framework to guide
management intervention
in the Coorong

6. A “system”
approach

7. CLLAMMecology
components

8. Hydrodynamic
model
• Evaluates across the
Coorong:
• Water exchange
• Water level
• Salinity
• Driven by:
• Flow through barrages
• USED flows
• Wind and evaporation
• Effective depth of Mouth channel
• Suitable for longer-term
(decades and centuries)
scenario analyses

9. Design of Field
Program
• 12 focal field sites
• Original aim: Study
biological responses to
barrage outflows
• No freshwater inflows
during the study (mid
2006-08)
• An opportunity to
study the system
under extreme
conditions

10. Outcomes
• New ecological
knowledge about the
Coorong region
• Robust ecological
framework to guide
management intervention
in the Coorong
• Linking management levers
to ecological outcomes
• Few similar examples in
Australia or overseas

11. Recommendations
• Use the framework to guide
management intervention in the
Coorong
• Develop a similar framework for the
Lower Lakes
• Use future environmental flows to the
Coorong as an opportunity to further
learn about the system

12. How to use the
Framework?
Distribution of:
• Food sources
• Key fish and birds
Climate and
Hydrodynamic Distribution of
Management
Model potential habitats
Scenarios
Ecosystem state
modelling

13. Acknowledgements
• Funding agencies
• Flagship Collaboration Fund
• LWA, FRDC, MDBA (Living Murray)
• Management Agencies
• DWLBC, MDBA, DEH, SA MDB NRM
Board
• Geoscience Australia
• Mike Geddes, Colin Creighton
• Post-doctoral fellows
• Support team for public events
• Julie Francis, Helen Beringen, Scott
Mills, Heather Riddell, John Goslino