Any plan to dam or extract water from some of Australia’s last wild rivers must carefully consider the consequences. Prawn, mud crab and barramundi fisheries could suffer in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Australia’s beloved billabongs and waterholes are in danger of filling up with eroded soil from farms, leaving little room for the aquatic animals that depend on these vital drought refuges.
Salty water seeps into our soils and groundwater through surface runoff and storm-water pipes. The long-term storage of salt in the environment impacts aquatic life, infrastructure and drinking water.
Rivers are among the most embattled ecosystems on Earth. Researchers are testing a new, inexpensive way to study river health by using eDNA to count the species that rivers harbor.
The review examined hundreds of studies and concluded the lower Murray should remain a freshwater ecosystem, or severe environmental and economic damage will result.
A new report on New Zealand’s lakes and rivers confirms that many freshwater ecosystems are in decline and warns that climate change will exacerbate existing threats.