Freshwater ecosystems

11. Abbreviations

ACT The Australian Capital Territory.

AFFA (Commonwealth Department of) Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Australia

AGPS Australian Government Publishing Service.

AHC Australian Heritage Commission.

ANZECC Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council.

ARMCANZ Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand.

ASL Australian Society for Limnology.

Audit (the) The National Land and Water Resources Audit

CAMBA China – Australia Migratory birds Agreement

CALM WA Department of Conservation and Land Management.

CAR Comprehensive, adequate and representative.

CEs Cumulative effects of incremental water infrastructure development.

CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (of Wild Fauna and Flora)

COAG Council of Australian Governments.

CSIFE Comprehensive State Inventory of Freshwater Ecosystems

CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

Cumulative effects: Cumulative effects of incremental water infrastructure development.

DPIWE Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment, Tasmania

DNR Department of Natural Resources (Qld).

DLWC Department of Land and Water Conservation (NSW).

EA (Commonwealth Department of) Environment Australia

ECC Environment Conservation Council (Victoria).

EIA Environmental impact assessment.

EPP Environment Protection Policy (statutory policy under Qld’s Environment Protection Act).

ERIN Environmental Resource Information Network (EA)

ERISS Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist

ESD Ecologically sustainable development.

EWR Ecological water requirement (used by the WRC in WA)

EWP Environmental water provision (used by the WRC in WA)

FHA Fish habitat areas (Queensland Fisheries Act 1994)

GDE Groundwater-dependent ecosystem.

GL Gigalitre.

GSL Great Southern Land: see the section titled: "Hypothetical case study".

IBRA Interim Bioregionalisation of Australia.

ICM Integrated Catchment Management (equivalent to TCM).

IGAE InterGovernmental Agreement on the Environment.

IMCRA Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia.

JAMBA Japan – Australia Migratory birds Agreement.

LCC Land Conservation Council, Victoria.

LUP Land use planning.

LWRRDC Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation.

MDBC Murray-Darling Basin Commission.

ML Megalitre.

National biodiversity strategy: National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity 1996.

NCC National Competition Council.

NCS Nature Conservation Strategy (ACT)

NGO Non-Government Organisation.

NHT Natural Heritage Trust.

NLWRA National Land and Water Resources Audit.

NRC National Rivers Consortium

NRHP National River Health Program

NRM Natural Resource Management (a framework similar to the ICM concept).

NRS National Reserves System.

NRSP National Reserves System Program

NSW New South Wales.

NT The Northern Territory.

NWQMS National Water Quality Management Strategy.

QFS Queensland Fisheries Service (part of Dept Primary Industries)

Qld Queensland.

RFA Regional Forest Agreement(s).

RRs Representative Reserves.

SA South Australia.

State used here to include all Australian States and Territories.

SPP Statement of Planning Policy (WA).

Tas Tasmania.

TCM Total Catchment Management (equivalent to ICM).

UNESCO United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organisation.

Vic Victoria.

WA Western Australia.

WCP Wetlands conservation policy.

wetlands Used in two meanings in this paper, depending on context. The Ramsar definition of wetlands includes rivers and streams; while the more common understanding of the term in Australia excludes rivers and streams. See discussion at section 3.6.3.

WISE Water Information System for the Environment (NSW).

WRC Water and Rivers Commission, WA.

WRMC Water resources management committee (WA)

12. Appendix 1:
Methods for waterway classification and assessment

Table 13.1

Classifications which may be used for Australian inland aquatic ecosystems

Adapted from Dunn 2000.

Classification focus	Scope	Source
River type or characterisation	Identified 39, then 16 river types in Victoria, using hydrology and geomorphology overlays. Used to establish representative river reserves.	LCC, Victoria 1989, 1991
River type or characterisation	Broad class of rivers in landscape context: 4-11 types for each drainage division in WA.	WA Water Resources Council 1992, Water and Rivers Commission 1997.
River styles	Means of characterising catchments and river sections, developed for NSW.	Brierley 1996, 1999
Geomorphic characteristics	Hierarchical approach to describing valley forms.	Frissell 1986
Stream order	Classification of stream by catchment area.	Strahler 1957
Hydrology	Require hydrogeomorphic characterisation of Australian rivers	Naiman 1992
Habitat types	Typology of functional in-stream habitats. Selected habitats used in AusRivAS sampling protocol.	Harper 1995
Substrate types	Size of substrate units	Harper 1995
In-stream functional habitats	In-stream flora, including algae and non-vascular plants.	Harper 1995
Riparian habitats	Based on vegetation and geomorphic structures.	Harper 1995
Riparian vegetation communities	River habitat survey and manual developed for UK; uses broad riparian architecture categories.	Raven 1998
Riparian vegetation communities	Foreshore assessment of condition. No Australia-wide classifications.	Pen and Scott 1995
Macroinvertebrate communities	AusRivAS provides information on expected communities for region and river type.	Simpson 1999
Wetlands	Classifications of freshwater wetlands into 20 types.	Ramsar Convention Bureau 1996; EA 1997
Wetlands	Defined 7 types of wetlands for the Paroo River based on hydrology.	Kingsford & Porter 1999

Table 13.2
Summary of methods for waterway assessment

(Adapted from Qld EPA 2000, Dunn 2000, and Phillips et al. 2000)

Name of Method	Category of Method	Technique	Focus/Criteria
National River Health Program - AusRivAs (Australia)	Condition assessment	Collects macroinvertebrate data from river systems throughout Australia. Individual site data is grouped to characterise reference condition then formalised via AusRivAs (Australia) model software. Models are calibrated to allow comparison of macroinvertebrate assemblages between reference and impacted sites.	Macroinvertebrates used to: Assess river health Infer environmental impact
Wild Rivers (Australia)	Condition assessment and naturalness value	Utilises a ‘river wildness’ index comprising State data of various disturbance indicators. Data is combined using a spatially referenced model to give all river sections across the country a score along a continuum of disturbance. Indices of catchment and in-stream disturbance form the basis of the overall score.	Assess naturalness using: catchment disturbance waterway disturbance
Index of Stream Condition (Victoria)	Condition assessment and naturalness value	An assessment of individual indicators. Data for each indicator are then scored, indexed and given arbitrary numerical values. The indicator scores are then combined to give an overall value. More applicable to disturbed systems, but useful for naturalness value.	Hydrology Physical form Streamside zone Aquatic life Water quality
Stressed Rivers (NSW)	Condition assessment and conservation value	A sub-catchment level approach in which categories are derived through measurement of environmental and hydrological stresses, resulting in a matrix of stress classifications and management categories. Also identified rivers of high conservation value, using a criteria-based analysis.	Water usage Species of significance Remnant habitats Geomorphology
State of the Rivers (WA)	Condition assessment and naturalness value	A method for mapping major forms of degradation within the State. Rivers are assigned 1 of 5 categories defining river condition to determine the feasibility for rehabilitation (if required), and to assist the Water and Rivers Commission management objectives.	Pressures on rivers Waterway disturbance
Water Resource Environmental Planning (Qld) – conservation value guideline	Conservation value	Part of a comprehensive approach to waterways planning and management. Values include ecology, geomorphology, hydrology, recreation, landscape and cultural heritage. Conservation value derived using a numerical approach for ecological criteria. A weighting system is used for combining indicators. [Note: although developed independently from SERCON, the system has a number of similar features]	Naturalness Condition Bio and geo - diversity Rare and threatened Uniqueness/rarity Cultural heritage
SERCON (UK) (System for Evaluating Rivers for Conservation)	Ecological value	A broadly based technique for assessing conservation value. Uses six criteria which are relevant to nature conservation assessment. River Habitat Survey forms part of method, followed by a scoring system with weightings.	Naturalness Representativeness Physical diversity Species richness Rarity Special features
River Habitat Survey (UK)	Condition assessment	Assesses habitat quality of rivers and streams based on their physical structure. Uses a data base of habitat requirements, site/reach classifications and association of flora/fauna with different habitats. [Note: currently being integrated with SERCON].	Bank and channel physical attributes Land use Understory vegetation Riparian trees Channel Dimensions Additional Features
RIVPACS (UK)	Condition assessment	The RIVPACS software package predicts the macroinvertebrate fauna to be expected at a river site in the absence of environmental stress. The model compares the observed with the expected fauna, to assess the biological quality of a site. [Note: RIVPACS was the basis for AusRivAs].	Macroinvertebrates used to: Assess biological quality Infer environmental impact
Wild and Scenic Rivers (US)	Conservation and recreation value	Applies to rivers in a free-flowing condition, and evaluated on the basis of one or more outstanding scenic, recreation, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, or cultural values.	Wild (naturalness) Scenic Recreational
Heritage Rivers(Canada)	Conservation value	A co-operative program developed by the Canadian provincial, and territorial governments to identify and preserve rivers of importance. The criteria for preservation range from natural heritage (physical attributes, geography, flora, fauna etc) to indicators of Canadian history and recreational appeal.	Physical attributes Significant flora and fauna Historical Recreational Naturalness
Pusey et al.(1999)	Ecological value	Developed for rivers in the wet tropics of Queensland, the method uses 10 criteria, 7 of which relate to nominated flora and fauna groups. Uses an unweighted rating system and reports the overall conservation value as green, red or amber, based on rules of combination.	Ecosystem function Flora and fauna of conservation interest Invertebrate diversity Flow regime
State of the Rivers (Queensland)	Condition assessment	Describes the condition of rivers using a range of physical criteria, including riparian and in-stream measures. Uses a site based proforma, with sites chosen as representative of homogenous reaches.	Physical Scenic and recreational
‘Expert System’ approach to the assessment of the conservation status of rivers (South Africa)	Conservation value	A method for assessing the major conservation attributes of rivers and communicating these in a conceptually simple manner	Naturalness/condition Diversity or richness Rarity/uniqueness Special features
A protocol for assessing natural values of New Zealand rivers (New Zealand)	Ecological value	Provides a description of ecological values using a numerical, expert panel assessment method.	Naturalness/condition Diversity or richness Representativeness Rarity/uniqueness Special features
Land Conservation Council (Victoria) 1989-91	Natural, landscape and recreational value, with river type classification.	Desktop evaluation and mapping of values by river basin. River types were classified into 39, then 16 major categories using hydrology and geomorphology overlays.	hydrology geomorphology minor ecological consideration

Table 13.3

Possible sources and methods of information collection in regard to ecosystem representativeness.

After Dunn 2000.

Attribute	Indicator / evidence	Information sources
Representative river system or section.	River system or section typical of bioregion.	Remote sensing, airborne video, river styles assessment, river habitat survey.
Representative river features.	River features typical of river type or style.	River styles assessment, river habitat survey.
Representative hydrological processes.	Fluvial and hydrological characteristics typical of that class of river processes.	Long-term, continuous and consistent datasets only available for certain river types.
Representative aquatic macroinvertebrate communities.	Biota typical of macroinvertebrate communities for the river type and region.	AusRivAS, surveys.
Representative in-stream or riparian flora or communities.	In-stream or riparian macrophyte communities typical of biota for the river type and region.	AusRivAS, surveys.
Representative in-stream fish communities.	Fish communities typical of the river type and region.	Biotic Index (fish) NSW.