Ecological Communities - Biological Surveys for Wetlands of the South East of South Australia

• Summary
• Biological Surveys
• Messent Conservation Park
• Gum Lagoon, Upper South East
• Deep Swamp
• Tilley Swamp
• Bunbury Conservation Reserve and Stoneleigh Park
• Lake Hawdon
• West Avenue Range

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Salinity impact on an elevated 'freshwater' swamp in Bunburry Swamp Conservation Reserve.

Summary

The water regime of much of the South East has been significantly affected since the arrival of Europeans. The construction of a complex network of public and private drains has dried out most of the former wetlands of the region. The State of the Environment Report for South Australia (1998) estimated that only 2% of pre-European wetlands now remain.

The South East has also undergone excessive clearance of deep rooted perennial native vegetation and replacement with shallow rooted annual crops and pasture, which has led to a significant increase in groundwater recharge rates. Consequently water-tables have risen and this has caused problems such as dryland salinity and more saline higher volume surface flows. This led to a proposal to expand and link the existing drainage networks (the Upper South East Dryland Salinity and Flood Management Scheme).

As a result a number of important areas of remnant native vegetation were surveyed for their plant and animal communities to document their biological values prior to drainage works in these areas. These are listed below as hotlinks to summaries of the reports. Where the full reports are digitally available they are also linked below.

Tilley Swamp Conservation Park

A Biological Survey of Messent Conservation Park, South Australia (December 1994)
Click for Report (4.3Mb PDF)

Biological Survey of Gum Lagoon, Upper South East (1995-1996)
Click for Summary (50Kb PDF)

A Biological Survey of Deep Swamp, South Australia (January 1996)
Click for Summary (50Kb PDF)

A Biological Survey of Tilley Swamp, South Australia (December 1996) Click for Summary (50Kb PDF)

A Biological Survey of Bunbury Conservation Reserve and Stoneleigh Park Heritage Agreement, South Australia (December 1997) Click for Report (2.5Mb PDF)

A Biological Survey of Lake Hawdon, South Australia (December 1999) Click for Report (3.3Mb PDF)

A Biological Survey of West Avenue Range, South Australia (January 2000) Click for Report (3.9Mb PDF)

Author / Contact

R Brandle, Biological Survey and Monitoring, Department for Environment and Heritage