Responses of waterbirds to flooding in an arid region of Australia and implications for conservation

D.A. Roshier, Alistar Robertson, R.T. Kingsford

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    126 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Floods are a frequent but irregular feature of Australia's dryland river catchments. We investigated changes in abundances of waterbirds in north western New South Wales with changes in wetland distribution at local, catchment and broad scales. The abundance of most functional groups of waterbirds changed in response to broad scale changes in wetland distribution, while local abundance remained highly variable. Patterns of abundance varied among functional groups of waterbirds, with some immediately responding to changes in wetland distribution and area flooded, and others apparently responding to sequences of wetting and drying. In Australia, the main conservation issue for waterbirds is water and its use across the landscape and not the spatial arrangement of any fixed array of reserves established to protect them. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)399-411
    JournalBiological Conservation
    Volume106
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2002

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Responses of waterbirds to flooding in an arid region of Australia and implications for conservation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this