WetlandUpdate May 2021

Aquatic fauna passage (biopassage)

Many Australian native fish species and other water-based fauna need a range of habitats to complete their life cycle and rely on specific seasonal and life stage habitats.

The Aquatic fauna passage (biopassage) section provides general information about biopassage, types of movement and ways to facilitate improved biopassage, barriers to biopassage and biopassage structure (fishway) mapping.

The collated biopassage structure information, has been a collaborative effort between the Queensland Government (Department of Agriculture and Fisheries), biopassage experts, fisheries, local government,biologists, and natural resource management groups.

Feral pigs

Feral pigs can cause extensive environmental, social, cultural, and economic damage. They predate on native wildlife, destroy habitats, compete for resources with native wildlife, introduce invasive weeds, and disrupt the ecosystem services provided by wetlands.

Hydrology

Hydrology includes the properties of the water and its distribution and movement between the land, groundwater and atmosphere. Information in the following section explains how hydrology operates at a range of scales (such as catchment, regional or global) and from different perspectives (e.g. focusing on a particular wetland, a river catchment or a groundwater aquifer).

Queensland Murray-Darling Basin (QMDB) Aquatic Conservation Assessment (ACA) fact sheet

Queensland Murray-Darling Basin (QMDB) Aquatic Conservation Assessment (ACA) fact sheet contains information on the 2021 the Queensland Department of Environment and Science (DES) update of the Queensland Murray-Darling Basin (QMDB) Aquatic Conservation Assessment (ACA) using the Aquatic Biodiversity Assessment and Mapping Method (AquaBAMM).

Updates

Updated information Litter and Illegal Dumping Management Framework

Pages have been updated to include additional litter and waste reduction mechanisms and information on the effects on values.

Updated layers on WetlandMaps and WetlandSummary

• Biopassage structures (fishways) dataset
• Biodiversity areas
• Sewage monitoring points and plants.

Updated Assessment Toolbox 

• Effective and efficient pathways for investment in improved water quality in the Great Barrier Reef
• Reef 2050 Plan, Investment Framework
• Fish Barrier Prioritisation (Landscape Scale Coastal)
• Fish Barrier Prioritisation (Wetland/Offstream)
• Instream Structure Prioritisation (Protected areas)

Updated Wetland Projects Search Tool

Additional projects have been added to the wetland projects search tool including a number from Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements as well as from the Herbert River Catchment and Landcare Group and the Hinchinbrook Shire Council.

Legislation pages

The programs, policies and legislation pages have been updated to reflect changes to Queensland’s planning programs, policy and legislation relating to wetlands, aquatic ecosystems and species.

Additional links

• Allen Coral Atlas is on the mapping data links; intertidal and subtidal mapping background; and intertidal and subtidal (estuarine and marine) ecology pages
• The Extraordinary Story of Peat and Carbon is on the soils; and carbon pages
• The Moreton Bay Quandamooka & Catchment: Past, present, and future link is on the Moreton Bay Ramsar page
• Contribution of three rivers to floodplain and coastal productivity in the Gulf of Carpentaria is on the water management and Gulf Division WetlandSummary pages
• National Directory of Important Migratory Shorebird Habitat is on the shorebird and migration pages
• Digital Earth Australia Coastline is on the intertidal and subtidal mapping background page
• Queensland Bulk Water Opportunities Statement is on the water management page
• Priority monitoring gaps prospectus: Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program is on the Great Barrier Reef WetlandSummary page
• Using denitrifying bioreactors to improve water quality on Queensland farms is in the Treatment System Toolbox

WetlandUpdate

The WetlandUpdate is a regular bulletin sent to subscribers to provide you with the latest WetlandInfo resources and tools, as well as case studies, video information and new project fact sheets.

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WetlandInfo feedback and improvements

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WetlandInfo feature species - Riffle Shrimp (Australatya striolata)

Riffle Shrimp (Australatya striolata)

Photo by Jon Marshall

The feature animal for April is the Australatya striolata (Riffle Shrimp). All species in the genus use habitats of fast-flowing, rocky streams, which gives them their common name of riffle shrimps.

Australatya striolata is a large and distinctive freshwater shrimp species of the family Atyidae, which includes other more commonly encountered local ‘glass shrimp’ from the genera Paratya and Caradina.

They grow to a maximum size of around 8 cm, and are recognised by this large size and robust body shape. They have a well-defined, pale, mid-dorsal stripe that interrupts their general body colouration that ranges from green, to red or tan-brown to black.

They occur in coastal catchments from Victoria (where it is listed as endangered) to the Sunshine Coast region of southern Queensland.

Additional information

• Species profile
• Atlas of Living Australia.

This section is updated regularly, so stay tuned for more!

Last updated: 10 May 2021