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Regulated recruitment: Native and alien fish responses to widespread floodplain inundation in the Macquarie Marshes, arid Australia

Rayner, Thomas S., Kingsford, Richard T., Suthers, Iain M. and Cruz, Derrick O. (2015). Regulated recruitment: Native and alien fish responses to widespread floodplain inundation in the Macquarie Marshes, arid Australia. Ecohydrology,8(1):148-159.

Document type: Journal Article
Citation counts: Altmetric Score Altmetric Score is 8
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IRMA ID 75039815xPUB814
Title Regulated recruitment: Native and alien fish responses to widespread floodplain inundation in the Macquarie Marshes, arid Australia
Author Rayner, Thomas S.
Kingsford, Richard T.
Suthers, Iain M.
Cruz, Derrick O.
Journal Name Ecohydrology
Publication Date 2015
Volume Number 8
Issue Number 1
ISSN 1936-0584   (check CDU catalogue open catalogue search in new window)
Scopus ID 2-s2.0-84921443541
Start Page 148
End Page 159
Total Pages 12
Place of Publication United Kingdom
Publisher John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
HERDC Category C1 - Journal Article (DIISR)
Abstract Rivers and wetland ecosystems are degraded by diversions of water upstream. In response, governments have reallocated water to flood wetlands, mimicking natural inundation of habitats known to drive booms in native freshwater fish production. Individual flow events allow the ecological outcomes of restoration efforts to be evaluated, in order to improve ongoing adaptive management. This study investigated the population size and recruitment responses of seven native and three alien fish species to widespread floodplain inundation at 15 sites across the Macquarie Marshes, a regulated wetland in Australia's Murray–Darling Basin. Flooding during the late winter, when water temperatures were 4 to 12.6 °C below the spawning threshold for native fish species present in the system, promoted reproduction and recruitment by alien species, which were significantly more abundant than native species after flooding. Fish assemblage structure also differed significantly between main channel and floodplain habitats, with macrophytes, pH, emergent vegetation, flow velocity and small wood debris accounting for 59% of spatiotemporal variation in fish assemblage structure. Strong correlations were identified between the length of spawning window and post-flood abundance of young-of-year and recruit size classes in the most abundant alien and native fish species. Future environmental flows, particularly those that inundate floodplain habitats, need to be delivered in light of the confounding effects of flow–temperature coupling and the lower spawning temperature thresholds of alien species. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eco.1496   (check subscription with CDU E-Gateway service for CDU Staff and Students  check subscription with CDU E-Gateway in new window)
 
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