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Improving Ecological Response Monitoring of Environmental Flows

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Abstract

Environmental flows are now an important restoration technique in flow-degraded rivers, and with the increasing public scrutiny of their effectiveness and value, the importance of undertaking scientifically robust monitoring is now even more critical. Many existing environmental flow monitoring programs have poorly defined objectives, nonjustified indicator choices, weak experimental designs, poor statistical strength, and often focus on outcomes from a single event. These negative attributes make them difficult to learn from. We provide practical recommendations that aim to improve the performance, scientific robustness, and defensibility of environmental flow monitoring programs. We draw on the literature and knowledge gained from working with stakeholders and managers to design, implement, and monitor a range of environmental flow types. We recommend that (1) environmental flow monitoring programs should be implemented within an adaptive management framework; (2) objectives of environmental flow programs should be well defined, attainable, and based on an agreed conceptual understanding of the system; (3) program and intervention targets should be attainable, measurable, and inform program objectives; (4) intervention monitoring programs should improve our understanding of flow-ecological responses and related conceptual models; (5) indicator selection should be based on conceptual models, objectives, and prioritization approaches; (6) appropriate monitoring designs and statistical tools should be used to measure and determine ecological response; (7) responses should be measured within timeframes that are relevant to the indicator(s); (8) watering events should be treated as replicates of a larger experiment; (9) environmental flow outcomes should be reported using a standard suite of metadata. Incorporating these attributes into future monitoring programs should ensure their outcomes are transferable and measured with high scientific credibility.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the CSIRO Cluster Collaboration Fund, CSIRO Ecological Responses to Altered Flow Regimes Research Cluster and the Australian National Water Commission through their Raising National Water Standards (RNWS) Program. This RNWS Australian Government program supports the implementation of the National Water Initiative by funding projects that are improving Australia’s national capacity to measure, monitor, and manage its water resources. The Cluster Collaboration Fund and the Ecological Responses to Altered Flow Regimes Research Cluster represent a collaboration between the CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, Griffith University, the University of New South Wales, Monash University, Charles Sturt University, La Trobe University and the Arthur Rylah Institute of the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment. The authors would like to thank Anthea Brecknell (NWC); the managers who contributed to the project, especially the members of the project steering committee (Deb Nias, Keith Ward, Mark Lintermans, Jack Chubb, Fern Hames, Wayne Tennant and Janet Pritchard); and the anonymous reviewers and the Editor-In-Chief for valuable comments on the manuscript.

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King, A.J., Gawne, B., Beesley, L. et al. Improving Ecological Response Monitoring of Environmental Flows. Environmental Management 55, 991–1005 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0456-6

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