Theme 3: River and coastal settings - Classifying tropical rivers

Peter DaviesThe rivers and estuaries across northern Australia can differ substantially between catchments. Differences in riverscape setting - primarily their flow patterns and how they form and evolve - are likely to influence ecosystem processes, the potential types of developments and the likely response to development and climate change.  In Theme 3 a physical classification system is being developed so we can determine the degree to which information is transferable from one catchment to another.

We are also seeking to understand the demographic and economic character of local communities in nominated catchments, and how this relates to the physical classification.

Projects

3.1: Socio-economic activity and water use in the Tropical Rivers region
Natalie Stoeckl

An understanding of the socio-economic systems and their relationships with the environment is a key component in assessing the implications of future developments in northern Australia.  This project will study a range of economic, cultural, institutional and human-capital aspects of northern populations to look for differences and similarities among communities and to describe how the region's socio-economic systems might change under the different future development scenarios.

3.2: Biophysical classification: Classifying Riverscapes across northern Australia
Andrew Brooks

A universally accepted system of classifying riverscapes (i.e. a geomorphic river classification scheme) does not exist for the tropical north of Australia.  This project will develop such a classification and so provide an understanding of the diversity of riverscapes in northern Australia.  It will also provide a rational basis for extrapolating limited, site-specific data collected in the TRaCK program to the rest of the wet-dry tropics.

3.3: Ecohydrological regionalisation of Australia: a tool for management and science
Brad Pusey
Mark Kennard

River classifications identify the key features that make rivers different or similar and so provide a tool by which the insights and knowledge gained in one river or region may be meaningfully applied or transferred to another.  This project proposes to develop a regional classification of Australia’s rivers based on ecologically relevant aspects of their hydrology (i.e. an ecohydrological classification).

Publications

Journal Article
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A framework for hydrologic classification with a review of methodologies and applications in ecohydrology Journal Article
01/2010 Classification of natural flow regimes in Australia to support environmental flow management Journal Article
02/2010 Quantifying uncertainty in estimation of hydrologic metrics for ecohydrological studies. Journal Article
02/2011 The haves and have nots in Australia's Tropical North - new perspectives on a persisting problem Journal Article
Corporate publication
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A separate flow regime classification for northern Australia: is it needed? Corporate publication
Report
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09/2009 Demographic Trends and Likely Futures for Australia's Tropical Rivers Report
2009 Ecohydrological regionalisation of Australia: A tool for management and science Report
03/2011 Socio-Economic Activity and Water Use in Australia’s Tropical Rivers: A Case Study in the Mitchell and Daly River Catchments Report
2009 Socio-economic profiling of tropical rivers Report
Newsletter
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01/2009 Flow regime and ecology Newsletter
01/2009 GIS tool instrumental in river research Newsletter
Book Chapter
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River classification and its application to environmental flow management Book Chapter
Conference Participation
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02/2008 The Delineation of Valley Margins as the basis for a valley confinement index using different resolution DEM data: implications for continental scale river classification approaches. Conference Participation
Conference Paper
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05/2007 Towards an objective approach for a regional - continental scale geomorphic river classification Conference Paper

our research themes

Theme 1: Scenario EvaluationTheme 2: Assets and ValuesTheme 3: River and Coastal SettingsTheme 4: Material BudgetsTheme 5: Foodwebs and BiodiversityTheme 6: Sustainable enterprisesTheme 7: Knowedge and Adoption

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