Hobart

Seminar abstract

Wednesday 14 February 2007, 11.30 am
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart

Dr Sebastien Lamontagne
Leader, Water for a Healthy Country Flagship
CSIRO Land and Water

River flows, hydrodynamic processes and ecosystem health in the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth region

The Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth region is a set of terminal lakes and saline lagoons at the end of the Murray-Darling Basin . The region supports irrigated agriculture, tourism, several fisheries and has high biodiversity and cultural values, as recognised by its listing as a Ramsar wetland and a ‘Living Murray Significant Environmental Asset'. However, ongoing changes to the water regime of the Murray-Darling River are threatening the long-term environmental and economic viability of the region. This is demonstrated by rising salinity levels in the Lower Lakes , the siltation of the Murray Mouth, the hypersalinisation of the Southern Lagoon of the Coorong and a decline in the abundance of several fish and bird species of economic or conservation significance.

A number of initiatives are underway to halt the ecological decline of the region. However, current management efforts are hampered by the limited knowledge of species, community or ecosystem responses to changes in key ecosystem drivers. I will review the complex interplay between the two principal ecosystem drivers for the region – river flows and sea level variations – and how biological communities respond to them. Current research initiatives to address outstanding knowledge gaps will be presented. In light of competing demands for water across the basin and the possible impacts of climate change, the future for the region remains uncertain.

Biography:
Dr Lamontagne is an environmental scientist with CSIRO Land and Water. He has received training in limnology, biogeochemistry and hydrogeology at various institutions in Canada . Since his arrival to Australia , he has been involved in a variety of studies across the Murray-Darling Basin , including work on floodplain salinisation processes and the biogeochemistry of saline wetlands. He is currently the leader for CSIRO's Water for a Healthy Country Flagship project “Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth”.

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Location:
CSIRO = Marine Laboratories Auditorium, Castray Esplanade, Hobart

For further information, or to schedule a seminar, contact:
To schedule a seminar, contact:
Karen Wild-Allen, (Oceanographic seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5010
Piers Dunstan, (Biological seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
(03) 6232 5382
Annabel Ozimec (seminar administrator) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5462
Sandra Zicus, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC (03) 6226 7888
Margaret Hazelwood, Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS) University of Tasmania (03) 6226 2971

Last updated 23/01/07