Extreme eutrophication and salinisation in the Coorong estuarine-lagoon ecosystem of Australia's largest river basin (Murray-Darling)

Luke Mosley, Stacey Priestley, Justin Brookes, Sabine Dittmann, Juraj Farkas, Mark Farrell, A Ferguson, Matthew Gibbs, Matt Hipsey, Leslie Huang, Orlando Lam-Gordillo, Stuart Simpson, Jonathan Tyler, Michelle Waycott, David Welsh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Estuaries in rainfall poor regions are highly susceptible to climatic and hydrological changes. The Coorong, a Ramsar-listed estuarine-coastal lagoon at the end of the Murray-Darling Basin (Australia), has experienced declining ecological health over recent decades. Twenty years of environmental data were analysed to assess patterns and drivers of water quality changes. Large areas of the Coorong are now persistently hyper-saline (salinity >80 psu) and hypereutrophic (total nitrogen, TN > 4 mg L−1, total phosphorus, TP > 0.2 mg L−1, chlorophyll a > 50 μg L−1) which coincided with reduced flushing due to diminished freshwater inflows and increasing evapo-concentration. Sediment quality also was related to flushing, with higher concentrations of organic carbon, TN, TP and sulfides as salinity increased. While total nutrient levels are very high, dissolved inorganic nutrients are generally low. Increased lagoonal flushing would be beneficial to reduce the hypersalinisation and hypereutrophication and improve ecosystem health.
Original languageEnglish
Article number114648
JournalMarine Pollution Bulletin
Volume188
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2023

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