Adaptation pathways for aquatic plants under climate change: facilitating dispersal and management interventions
- 1. Charles Sturt University
- 2. consultant
- 3. Griffith University
- 4. Federation University, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne
- 5. Office of the Environment and Water
- 6. Edith Cowan University
- 7. CSIRO, Plant Industry
- 8. James Cook University
- 9. South Australia Research and Development Institute, Aquatic Sciences
- 10. CSIRO Land & Water, Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre - (MDFRC)
- 11. Charles Sturt University, consultant
- 12. Iowa State University, USA
- 13. Goulburn Broken CMA (GBCMA), Victoria
Description
In a landscape that is predicted to become increasingly managed, wetlands will become either wetter or drier for longer periods and, as a consequence, the ability of biota with limited dispersal mechanisms to re-colonise when favourable conditions occur will be reduced. Recent swings between drought and flood conditions across a large part of Australia have raised questions about how well wetland/riverine plants disperse and re-colonize in the face of changes in water allocations and under climate change.
This ACEAS working group proposed to:
1. Construct a listing of wetland and riparian plants from habitats in different parts of Australia
2. Confirm and apply the empirical models of life history traits to functional groupings of these species under various water regime scenarios for each region
3. Develop response models to projected changes in climate and water regulation.