Publication (Media): The Australian Alps Stream Health Monitoring Project

Publication Type:	Media Release
Publication Name:	The Australian Alps Stream Health Monitoring Project

Reference Information

Davies, Nerida (2000) The Australian Alps Stream Health Monitoring Project - Jul 21 2000, CRCFE, Canberra - Media Release.

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The Australian Alps Stream Health Monitoring Project

Researchers from the CRC for Freshwater Ecology sampled and measured the stream invertebrate fauna and a wide range of habitat features at 95 sites above 1000m altitude within the national parks of the Australian Alps early this year. The Australian Alps Liaison Committee provided funding for the project model development.

Seventy-nine reference sites were used to provide baseline conditions and to build an AUSRIVAS predictive model, which can be used to assess the condition of alpine rivers and streams. Sixteen test sites (with suspected or known impacts) were sampled and assessed using AUSRIVAS. AUSRIVAS uses environmental characteristics that are unaffected by human activities (e.g. latitude, longitude, altitude, position in the catchment) as an independent way of matching test sites with reference sites. The AUSRIVAS model then uses the macroinvertebrates found at a site as an indicator of river health.

Once test sites are matched to reference sites with similar characteristics, the macroinvertebrates expected (E) if there were no environmental stress, can be compared to the macroinvertebrates found (O). For example, an O/E of 0.7 would indicate that about 30% of the different sorts of animals expected were not collected. The missing animals indicate an unhealthy river.

A site displaying no biological impairment should have an O/E ratio close to one. The information from the 79 reference sites forms the basis of the predictive model.

The AUSRIVAS predictive models are valuable tools for identifying possible effects of land use and management practices on the biological communities of rivers and streams within the Australian Alps national parks. The impacts of management activities on rivers and streams such as track construction and fire as well as dispersed recreation can be easily assessed using the Alps model.

Stock grazing on the Bogong High Plains (Cope Creek and Tawonga Hut Creek) and the discharge of treated sewage (Thredbo River and Perisher Creek) are two of the land uses identified in the study that may be adversely affecting the rivers and streams of the Australian Alps national parks.

The Alps summer riffle AUSRIVAS predictive model and a description of the methods is available on the Internet (Coysh et al. 2000, http://ausrivas.canberra.edu.au/ausrivas).

For further information, please contact
Nerida Davies
phone: 02 6201 2080
email: ndavies@enterprise.canberra.edu.au
or
Mark Lintermans
Phone: 02 62072117
Email: mark.lintermans@.act.gov.au

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