4.3: Towards understanding the impacts of land management on productivity in the Daly and Flinders Rivers

Leader:

Barbara Robson

Abstract

<p>A common result of human activity in catchments is an increase in the amount of sediment and nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) found in rivers.  This project will answer questions about how changes to the sediments and nutrients found in rivers affect the processes and plant growth in rivers.</p>

Outcomes

Regional natural resource management groups, government policy-makers, and water planners will benefit through:

Improved understanding of the origin, transport and fate of carbon, nutrients and fine sediments in tropical rivers
Improved capacity to predict the consequences of land use and water resource changes on primary production in the Daly and Flinders rivers
Improved understanding on the linkage between flows and the transport and fate of nutrients and fine sediments

This (predictive) capability is essential to assessing impacts of land-use change on ecological condition in tropical rivers, an important step for effective management of river catchments.

Where is the research happening?

The project will focus on the Daly River for the first two years and then switch to the Flinders River in the years following. The Daly River component would extend the length of the main channel and would include the definition of the nutrient and fine sediment inputs from the Douglas, Katherine and Flora Rivers. The work in the Flinders will be less intensive and closely linked to the TRaCK waterholes project.

Who's involved

The project is being lead by Dr Barbara Robson from CSIRO Land and Water in Canberra. Other researchers in the team come from a broad range of agencies and institutions including CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research (Hobart), Griffith University (Queensland), Charles Darwin University (Darwin), Geosciences Australia (Canberra) and the NT government. Different contributors bring different specialist expertise to the team.