Linking water-resource models to ecosystem-response models to guide water-resource planning -- an example from the Murray--Darling Basin, Australia
Data(s) |
18/03/2011
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Resumo |
Objectively assessing ecological benefits of competing watering strategies is difficult. We present a framework of coupled models to compare scenarios, using the Coorong, the estuary for the MurrayDarling River system in South Australia, as a case study. The framework links outputs from recent modelling of the effects of climate change on water availability across the MurrayDarling Basin to a hydrodynamic model for the Coorong, and then an ecosystem-response model. The approach has significant advantages, including the following: (1) evaluating management actions is straightforward because of relatively tight coupling between impacts on hydrology and ecology; (2) scenarios of 111 years reveal the impacts of realistic climatic and flow variability on Coorong ecology; and (3) ecological impact is represented in the model by a series of ecosystem states, integrating across many organisms, not just iconic species. We applied the approach to four flow scenarios, comparing conditions without development, current water-use levels, and two predicted future climate scenarios. Simulation produced a range of hydrodynamic conditions and consequent distributions of ecosystem states, allowing managers to compare scenarios. This approach could be used with many climates and/or management actions for optimisation of flow delivery to environmental assets.<br /> |
Identificador | |
Idioma(s) |
eng |
Publicador |
CSIRO Publishing |
Relação |
http://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30044235/lester-linkingwater-2011.pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10.1071/MF09298 |
Direitos |
2011, CSIRO |
Palavras-Chave | #climate change #Coorong #ecosystem states #environmental flows #environmental management #hydrodynamic modelling #Ramsar wetland #water extraction |
Tipo |
Journal Article |