Australia-China Wetland Network
Research Partnership Symposium
23 – 28 March 2014
Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology
Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGLAS)
Nanjing, China
2
Partnering organisations
Federation University Australia
Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese Academy of Sciences
(NIGLAS)
Abstracts
Edited by Giri Kattel and Xiangdong Yang
Front cover
Zhongmiao Temple, Chaohu Lake
Anhui Province, China
Chaohu Lake is one of the five largest lakes in China, supporting more than five million people for
irrigation, transportation and fishing.
Photo by: G. Kattel
3
Collaborating organisations
Federation University Australia
Nanjing Institute of Geography
and Limnology Chinese
Academy of Sciences (NIGLAS)
University of Melbourne
University of Canberra
Charles Sturt University
Griffith University
University of New England
4
RMIT
Tsinghua University
Northeast Institute of
Geography and Agroecology
Beijing Forestry University
Institute of Geology &
Geophysics Chinese Academy
of Sciences
Monash University
5
Sponsoring organisations
Australia-China Science and Research Fund (ACSRF)
Collaborative Research Network, Federation University Australia
Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology (NIGLAS)
6
Messages
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation
Federation University Australia
I am very pleased to welcome each participant from Australia and China to the ‘Australia China
Wetland Network Research Partnership’ Symposium held in the beautiful City of Nanjing. I am
very proud of this exciting opportunity for collaborative research and exchange of ideas between
Federation University Australia and Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese
Academy of Sciences and trust that this joint symposium will continue to strengthen and broaden
our joint research programs.
The natural resources including the lakes and rivers are significant source of goods and services.
Australia and China are countries that have large river basins, such as the River Murray and the
Yangtze River, and to these basins are associated wetlands providing important ecosystem
services and economic benefits. Both countries share enormous challenges to sustain
ecosystems of these river systems, and face critical management issues in the ecology and
hydrology of floodplain wetlands. While human disturbances such as urbanisation, agriculture
and industrial developments across the river catchments are becoming some of major driving
forces of degradation of ecological values and services, climate change has further fuelled the
condition. This timely symposium is crucial to address the issue of the large river floodplain
wetland management in both countries. This research initiative by Federation University Australia
and NIGLAS has global reach and significance. I very much would like to see this venture grow
and address global challenges in the management of large river systems.
I would like to thank the organising committee for their tireless work, the Australian government
sponsorship through the Collaborative Research Network and Australia-China Science and
Research Fund, the Chinese Government and NIGLAS for hosting this symposium. I would also
like to thank each of your contribution to the symposium. Your vision, knowledge, and the
experience shared in this symposium will be invaluable to shape a stronger Australia-China
partnership in river basin management and provide global solutions for a global problem. I wish
you all the best for a successful symposium here in Nanjing.
Professor Frank Stagnitti
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation
Federation University Australia
7
Director of Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese
Academy of Sciences
I have a pleasure to welcome you all in ‘Australia China Wetland Network Research Partnership’
symposium in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province. Nanjing is a beautiful city with long history
as you can see in following days. I am proud that the Nanjing Institute of Geography and
Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences was founded in Nanjing, and this foundation has
brought an exciting opportunity of this collaboration between NIGLAS and Federation University
Australia in wetlands.
NIGLAS is one of leading research organisations in China on geography and limnology. The
research in wetland environments, particularly ecology, hydrology, climate change, evolution and
sustainable development has made national and international influences. The success is largely
due to its collaborations. Each year, NIGLAS hosts prominent visiting scholars, as well as
nominate international guest scientists and Chinese Academy of Sciences-Einstein Professors as
recognition for their outstanding contributions to the field of their research. Today, I am pleased
to see even more potential collaborations between NIGLAS and scientists from Australia leading
to this workshop.
The significance of research collaborations in wetland is high due to a similarity in large river
systems between two countries. The Yellow River in the north and the Yangtze River in the south
of China, and the River Murray in Australia have many associated floodplain wetlands with high
economic values. However, the resource managers of both countries have faced increasing
challenges on the river basin management. In China, in particular, we are looking for better river
basin management strategies. The science and innovation developed for the management of the
Murray Darling River Basin would be crucial for China. This symposium will strengthen
collaborative research efforts between Australian and Chinese scientists, and address the issues
of large river basin management.
I would like to thank the symposium organising committee in both countries for their hard work,
and would also like to extend gratitude for the funding body, the Australia-China Science and
Research Fund, and the NIGLAS for hosting this symposium. I would also like to thank individual
scientists and student participants who contribute to this symposium. I wish you all the best here
in Nanjing, and looking forward to seeing a stronger China-Australia collaboration in wetlands
research in future.
Professor Ji Shen
Director
NIGLAS
8
Overview
Australia-China Wetland Network Research Partnership
Some of the large river basins of Australia and China have a history of global significance. For
example, the Murray and Yangtze Rivers, two of the world’s most significant river basins, have
been intensively developed for the provision of food and water resources. The Yangtze River
System supports one-tenth of the world’s population supported by an economy dependent on
irrigation, hydropower and tourism, while the economy of the Murray River Basin, valued as high
as $14 billion per annum, is supported by the River Murray for irrigation, hydropower and
agricultural industries.
The impacts associated with the Murray River Basin
following the arrival of Europeans are mainly forest
clearance for agriculture and subsequent development of
water resources for irrigation through river regulations.
While in the Yangtze River Basin, the major impact is
associated with the transformation of the agrarian-based
economy to an industrial-based economy over the recent
decades. As a result of these impacts on natural habitats,
the functioning of the larger river wetland ecosystems has
become critical. Further, climate change has threatened
the ecosystem functioning of the wetlands of both river systems.
Evidence suggests that the response of ecosystem structure and function of the Murray and
Yangtze River Systems to various stressors is non-linear in nature. Nutrient- and climate-driven
complex ecosystem processes and associated feedback mechanisms have often lead to a
regime of thresholds, which can cross from one state to the other. The nature of such changes
through time is poorly known in wetlands of the large river systems of both countries. The regime
change has impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functions, subsequently on ecosystem
services. Knowledge generated in the two large river systems in Australia and China will be
crucial for developing strategies to mitigate the ongoing pressures associated with intensive food
production and assist decision-makers in ensuring their sustainability.
Scientists from Federation University Australia (FedUni)
and the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology
Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGLAS) have long been
aware of the condition of rapidly changing floodplain
wetlands environments of the wetlands including the two
large river basins, the Murray and Yangtze basins of
Australia and China, and have made a call to unravel the
historic changes in ecology and hydrology through
exchange of knowledge. Australia China Wetland
Network Research Partnership is an outcome of this call
by FedUni and NIGLAS to foster a dialogue among Australian and Chinese Scientists in water
resources across Australia and China, and help develop well targeted collaborative research
programs in wetlands and large river basins to achieve a resilient society.
9
Research Theme
The Australia China Wetland Network Research Partnership has an overlapping theme between
ecology and hydrology of large river and wetland systems which have been exposed to the
impacts posed by humans and climate change together. The research focus will therefore to
understand these issues and developing strategies for management and restoration of wetlands
for promoting ecological resilience of wetlands of both countries.
Theme 1: Ecological and hydrological changes and basin modelling
The catchments of large river systems in China and Australia have undergone substantial
change on ecology and hydrology over the long period of time. The history of civilization in
Murray, Yangtze and Yellow River Basins has been reported as far back as the Holocene. The
characteristic changes in hydrology and ecology with respect to anthropogenic impacts and
natural climate variability of water resources are significant for future management of water. This
research will help establish a platform to understand the sensitivity of energy and water to
changes in atmospheric conditions, locally through connections with ENSO and Indian Monsoon
variability, and is expected by ground water resources.
Theme 2: Ecosystem response to human
disturbances
Ecological attributes of large river floodplain wetlands
have been modified by recent drastic industrial and
cultural developments in Australia and China particularly
during the 20th century. Modern farming practices have
made implications for physical and hydrological features
of floodplain wetlands including the changes in water
quality and sediment processes. A high turnover rate of
organic matter and nutrients are predicted to occur as a result of sudden natural flood events,
however, intensification of land use including waste disposal, agriculture, grazing and forest
clearance in catchments all have considerable implications for changes in wetland ecosystems.
The large scale alteration of rivers in Australia and China for agricultural, hydropower and
industrial development in during the 20th century has modified morphology and natural habitats
of wide range of biota consequently reducing the biodiversity and floodplains lake ecosystems.
10
Theme 3: Impact of climate change on wetland ecosystems
Rapid rate of climate warming in recent decades has
caused significant impacts on large river floodplain
wetland ecosystems of Australia and China through a
variety of ways such as via alteration of flood events,
channel morphology, nutrient dynamics and growth and
reproduction of wetland and riparian biota. Climate
warming reduces annual inflows and runoff volume of
the large river systems, also alters river channels,
erosion, nutrient and sediment transports influencing
terrestrial vegetation, soil moisture and
evapotranspiration processes. However, the mechanisms behind climate change particularly the
impacts associated directly and indirectly with wetland ecosystems have become increasingly
complex to understand.
Theme 4: Water quality, wetland resilience and ecosystem services
Nature provides ‘life support services’ at virtually every
scale, that many are free of charge (not captured by
markets), and that many are irreplaceable by technology.
However, those global resources, both with free of
charge, and those with marketable values, have become
increasingly scarce during the 21st century. Human
domination in the biosphere is the main cause for decline
in services provided by ecosystems due to alteration of
global biogeochemical cycles. The need for managing
the natural capital of the human society in a sustainable
way is thus of high priority. The large river systems of Australia and China are globally significant
natural resources providing important provision, supporting, regulating and cultural services to
humans over several centuries. The decline of services for example water quality, food resources
and cultural values from these river systems would have considerable implications on sustainable
living. Understanding the underlying basic ecological mechanisms that link certain goods and
services of river ecosystems to its supporting system to the society is crucial for managing
sustainable riverine wetland ecosystems and promote ecological resilience. Such knowledge is
also important to estimate the qualitative reliability of the service, i.e. the capacity to ‘work upon
demand’, and the sensitivity of this reliability to human-accelerated environmental change.
11
Symposium program
Date/Time
Activity
23 Mar 2014
Commencement
17:00-21:00
Arrival/Welcome
24 Mar 2014
One-day Research Symposium
8:30-9:00
Welcome by Director, NIGLAS & DVCR&I, Federation University Australia
Theme: Wetland ecosystem resilience and ecosystem services
Chair: Prof. Peter Scales, Melbourne University
9:00-9:20
Prof. Max Finlayson- Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia.
"Determining baselines and thresholds of change in wetlands"
9:20-9:40
Prof. Junguo Liu- Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
"Understanding historical trend of ecosystem services for river restoration: a case study of the
Yongding river in Beijing, China"
9:40-10:00
Prof. Prem Chhetri- RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
“Estimating visual quality, a component of culturally-associated ecosystem services in palaeo
lake environments”
10:00-10:20
Dr. Rong Wang- Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese Academy of Science
(NIGLAS), Nanjing, China.
“Palaeolimnological evidence for resilience loss under nature perturbations in a lake
ecosystem”
10:20-10:40
------------------------------------------------- COFFEE BREAK -------------------------------------------------Theme: Human disturbances and river regulations
Chair: Prof. Max Finlayson, Charles Sturt University
10:40-11:00
Prof. Peter Gell- Federation University Australia.
“Assessing change in floodplain wetland condition in Murray Darling Basin”
11:00-11:20
Prof. Xiangdong Yang- Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese Academy of
Science (NIGLAS), Nanjing, China.
“Recent environmental changes in shallow Yangtze lakes”
11:20-11:40
Dr. Giri Kattel- Federation University Australia.
“Understanding the recent ecological and hydrological changes in floodplain wetlands of
Murray and Yangtze Rivers”
11:40-12:00
12:00-14:00
Prof. Jenny Davis- University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia.
“Understanding the impacts of multiple stressors and associated regime shifts in shallow
wetlands”
--------------------------------------------------- LUNCH BREAK--------------------------------------------------Theme: Impact of climate change on wetland ecosystems
Chair: Prof. Zhenwen Liu, NIGLAS
14:00-14:20
Prof. Guoping Wang- Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy
of Sciences, Changchun, China.
“Wetlands and Environmental Change in Northeast China”
14:20-14:40
Dr. Samantha Capon- Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
“Resilience and adaptive capacity of wetland vegetation to climate and hydrological change”
14:40-15:00
Dr. Patrick Rioual- Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS), Beijing, China.
“Diatom-based ecological classification of shallow lakes in the Badain Jaran Desert (Inner
Mongolia, China)”
12
15:00-15:20
Dr. Yangmin Qin- China University of Geoscience, Wuhan, China.
“Ecology of testate amoebae (thecamoebians) in Shallow Lakes of Middle and Lower Reaches
of the Yangtze River”
15:20-15:40
------------------------------------------------- COFFEE BREAK -------------------------------------------------Theme - Ecology, hydrology and river basin modelling
Chair: Prof. Jenny Davis, University of Canberra, Australia
15:40-16:00
Prof. Pengfei Du- Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
“The application of RegCM4.3 Model in regarding of long term climate variability over Yangtze
river”
16:00-16:20
Dr. Michael Reid- University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia.
“Developing models on floodplain wetland ecosystems structure and functions following
disturbances”
16:20-16:40
Prof. Yuwei Chen- Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese Academy of
Science (NIGLAS), Nanjing, China.
“Poyang wetland ecosystem: the establishment of the monitoring station and current findings"
16:40-17:00
17:00-17:20
Prof. Martin Thoms- University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia.
“Floodplain wetland dynamics: the importance of hydrological connectivity between rivers and
floodplain wetlands”
Prof. Peter Scales- University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. “Robust recycling of water:
The water plant of the future”.
17:20-17:40
Prof. Zhenwen Liu, Ping Zhong, Xiufeng Zhang, Jiajia Ning, Søren E. Larsen, Erik JeppesenNanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese Academy of Science (NIGLAS),
Nanjing, China.
“Successful restoration of a tropical shallow eutrophic lake: strong bottom-up but weak topdown effects recorded”
17:40-18:00
----------------------------------------------- SYMPOSIUM CLOSE-----------------------------------------------
25 Mar 2014
Group Discussion (three groups)
Chair: Prof. Peter Gell, Federation University Australia
•
9:00-10:30
•
Can we identify gaps/opportunities for understanding wetland ecosystem
processes/water resources management approaches in large river basins of Australia
and China through joint research collaborations?
If so, what are the obstacles for collaborations to form a long, durable institutional
partnership in wetland/water resources research amongst scientists between two
nations?
10:30-10:50
------------------------------------------------- COFFEE BREAK --------------------------------------------------
10:50-12:00
Synthesis of group discussion (all)
12:00-14:00
--------------------------------------------------- LUNCH BREAK--------------------------------------------------Postgraduate Students/Scientists Q&A Session
Key focus areas:
14:00-15:00
15:00-18:00
•
•
•
•
•
Monitoring techniques
New proxy methods in palaeoecology
GIS and remote sensing
Lake restoration program
Numerical analysis
Visit some landmarks of Nanjing including the Yangtze River Bridge
13
26-28 March
2014
Field Excursions
•
•
•
26 March- travel (all day) to Poyang Lake, one of the floodplain lakes of Yangtze
27 March- attend a discussion organised by Poyang Lake Research Station, then oneday trip to Lushan Mountain
28 March- Return to Nanjing by 17:00
14
Table of contents
SESSION 1
Theme: Wetland Ecosystem Resilience and Ecosystem Services
Chair: Prof. Peter Scales
Determining baselines and thresholds of change in wetlands
CM Finlayson
Understanding historical trend of ecosystem services for
river restoration: a case study of the Yongding river in
Beijing, China
Junguo Liu
Estimating visual quality, a component of culturallyassociated ecosystem services in palaeo lake environments
Prem Chhetri
Palaeolimnological evidence for resilience loss under nature
perturbations in a lake ecosystem
Rong Wang
16
17
18
20
SESSION 2
Theme: Human Disturbances and River Regulations
Chair: Prof. CM Finlayson
Assessing change in floodplain wetland condition in Murray
Darling Basin
Peter Gell
Recent environmental changes in shallow Yangtze lakes
Xiangdong Yang
Understanding the recent ecological and hydrological
changes in floodplain wetlands of Murray and Yangtze
Rivers
Giri Kattel
Understanding the impacts of multiple stressors and
associated regime shifts in shallow wetlands
Jenny Davis
21
22
23
24
SESSION 3
Theme: Impact of climate change on the wetland ecosystems
Chair: Prof. Zhenwen Liu
Wetlands and Environmental Change in Northeast China
Guoping Wang
Resilience and adaptive capacity of wetland vegetation to
climate and hydrological change
Samantha Capon
Diatom-based ecological classification of shallow lakes in
the Badain Jaran Desert (Inner Mongolia, China
Patrick Rioual
Testate amoebae ecology and biogeography in peatlands of
central China and Northern America, in relation to hydrology
and human activities
Yangmin Qin
25
26
27
28
SESSION 4
Theme: Ecology, hydrology and river basin modelling
Chair: Prof. Jenny Davis
The application of RegCM4.3 Model in regarding of long
term climate variability over Yangtze river
Pengfei Du
29
15
Developing models on floodplain wetland ecosystems
structure and functions following disturbances
Michael Reid
Poyang wetland ecosystem: the establishment of the
monitoring station and current findings
Yewi Chen
Floodplain wetland dynamics: the importance of
hydrological connectivity between rivers and floodplain
wetlands
Martin Thoms
Robust recycling of water: The water plant of the future
Peter Scales
Successful restoration of a tropical shallow eutrophic lake:
strong bottom-up but weak top-down effects recorded
Zhenwen Liu
30
31
32
33
34
POSTER SESSION
Developing and applying two methods that use subfossil
Australian chironomid (non-biting midge) as proxies for past
climate and environmental change
Jie Chang
An early Holocene diatom record of climatic and limnological
changes in Lake Xiaolongwan, Northeastern China:
preliminary results
Qiang Gao
A brief assessment of diatom assemblages and seasonal
dynamics in lake Qinghai: a time-series sediment trap study
Yumei Peng
35
36
37
16
Session 1
Determining baselines and thresholds of change in wetlands
CM FINLAYSON
Institute for Land, Water & Society, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
The Ramsar Convention has formalised the concept of determining baselines in wetlands as a
means of ascertaining change in the ecological character of wetlands. This has generally been
based on the assignment of a baseline or reference condition at a point in time where suitable
data is available. In some instances this has been equated with a pre-disturbance state. Agents
responsible for such processes have struggled with the concepts of variability and succession,
with many formal baselines being treated as static states. This is ecologically nonsensical and
reflects a failure to come to grips with the ecological processes that shape and change wetlands
in both short and longer time periods. The advent of global change, including climate change has
further complicated efforts to ascertain the ecological condition of wetlands and to determine
when a wetland has changed adversely in response to human activities. In response various
attempts have been made to predict the future composition of wetlands under climate change
and to identify thresholds for what is generally seen as adverse change. While the theorising has
progressed and clever minds brought to bear on these issues the fundamental stumbling block is
still the lack of information on which to base such assessments, or even to make use of the
variety of information that could be used to make such assessments.
17
Understanding historical trend of ecosystem services for river
restoration: a case study of the Yongding River in Beijing, China
1
JUNGUO LIU , ZHENMING ZHANG
School of Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Haidian District, Beijing,
China
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Freshwater ecosystems are changing rapidly worldwide, raising sustainability concern for rivers’
health and for communities relying on their ecosystem services. Knowledge on historical trend of
ecosystem services is a key to formulating river management and restoration policies; however, it
is still lacking for many rivers in China. We evaluate the ecosystem services of the Yongding
River (it was once called the Mother River of Beijing, but is suffering from serious dry-ups and
water quality problems) through an intensive effort involving the local stakeholders. The
assessment shows that the total values of the river ecosystem services have decreased by 40%
over 1978-2009. Among all the services, water supply and cultural services have suffered from
the sharpest declines. They have decreased by 94% and 54%, respectively. We conclude that
restoring culture-related services may be the most effective way to enhance the Yongding river
ecosystems in the short run, but setting up monitoring measurements is also a priority to trace
long-term changes of the river ecosystem services after restoration.
18
Estimating visual quality, a component of culturally-associated
ecosystem services in palaeo-lake environments
1,a
b
c
c
c
PREM CHHETRI , GIRI KATTEL , XUHUI DONG , XIANGDONG YANG , XU MIN
a
School of Business IT and Logistics, RMIT University, Melbourne;
b
Collaborative Research Network, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Victoria;
c
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography
and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
1
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
The paper presents a methodology for estimating the visual quality, a component of culturallyassociated ecosystem services, of palaeo-lake environments. Using the paleo-data collected in
two popular lakes, Dianshan and Liangzi in the Yangtze River Catchment in China, this paper
develops a methodological framework to estimate the levels of visual quality of wetland
environment. Visual quality refers to the character, condition and quality of lakes/wetlands. It
involves perceiving, preferring and valuing the visual quality by the public. Visual quality is an
outcome of the perceptual, cognitive and emotional processes in response to visual stimuli of a
lake environment. Visual quality therefore is dependent upon the perceptual and structural
aspects of perceived scenes of wetlands.
Evaluation of visual quality is essentially a multi-dimensional and multi-sensory experience of
landscape assessment. Visual assessment, an evaluating process of gaining non-material or
intangible benefits by people from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive
development, self-reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences, has now become one of
significant research areas under cultural components of ecosystem services. Public perception in
such studies is composed of both the objective and subjective elements of human–landscape
interactions. However, it is still a matter of debate whether subjective–objective realities are
dichotomous or supplementary to enhancing the quality of human experiences in natural settings.
In fact, much research considers them as inseparable and integral parts of landscape perception,
despite the tendency for disintegrating landscapes into their constituent components. There is a
fundamental theoretical divergence of opinions over the question whether a landscape has an
intrinsic or ‘objective’ beauty, which may be in some ways measurable or comparable, or whether
beauty is a value that can be only attributed subjectively to an area or a specific landscape.
Estimation of visual quality of the wetland environment requires decomposing wetland
landscapes into various biophysical components. A range of techniques were employed to
measure visual quality of wetlands including the use of photomontage or simulated virtual
scenes. Use of Geographic Information Systems, coupled with virtual reality is also being widely
used as a technique of visual quality assessment. The evaluation of visual quality is undertaken
by either the public or experts or both. In this research, visual quality is measured using the
biophysical properties of the wetland environment. The raw data contain estimated biophysical
properties of wetlands such as sedimentary total nitrogen, carbon and total phosphorous, lake
depth and aluminium, from 1896 through to 2008. Expert judgements are used to subjectively
categorise data into ordinal scale. Indicators, representing the cultural ecosystem services, are
developed to represent visual quality of wetlands. These bio-physical properties were then
reclassified and converted into a visual quality scale ranging from 1 to 5, least attractive to most
attractive. A set of surrogate measures (e.g. diatom, xxx) are generated to represent key visual
quality indicators such as levels of biodiversity, water clarity, turbulence, contamination, odour;
abundance of lacustrine species and water level. The scores allocated to each of the surrogate
19
measures are aggregated to create a range of visual quality indices. These indices are then
computed for different periods of time to allow capturing and monitoring changes in the visual
quality of Dianshan and Liangzi wetlands.
The application developed within this model has significant use for landscape planners and
managers of national parks and recreation management. This research will be the first attempt to
compute visual quality of palaeo-lake environments. It will provide a systematic framework for
monitoring changes in visual characteristics of wetlands, which in turn will enable the landscape
managers in devising visual quality management plan to protect and conserve the wetland
environment for future recreational use and estimating the cultural values of ecosystem services
at a catchment level.
20
Palaeolimnological evidence for resilience loss under nature
perturbations in a lake ecosystem
RONG WANG, XIANGDONG YANG, QIAN WANG, XUHUI DONG
Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, CAS, Nanjing, China
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Critical transitions in natural system could produce surprising changes, and sometimes cause
unacceptable results. Recently the studies on critical transitions have become interests among
scientists around the globe. However, until recently, most of these studies are focused mostly on
laboratory based, or manipulated by field experiments. Although the related theories of critical
transitions are improving, in reality, the verifications of such transitions through tests in natural
systems are rare. One of the main reasons is due to a lack of long term historical data available
for this study. Palaeolimnological approach can produce a long term data. However, some
biases, such as sediment compaction and taphonomy, can still prevent a robust conclusion. In
this study, we have chosen a mountain lake, Lugu, in Yunnan (China). Lugu Lake represents the
historical records of diatom-inferred environmental change over the past 30 ka. The subfossil
sedimentary diatom assemblage in this lake shows two significant tipping points at around 15 ka
and 1 ka respectively. We have then aggregated the diatoms community data in order to get an
even time sequence dataset to calculate early warning signals (EWS) in the vicinity of these
tipping points. We found that the recovery rates of diatoms before these tipping points were
significantly declined indicating a slowing down of the ecosystem of the Lugu Lake. Our results
suggest that the long term high resolution palaeolimnological data can reduce the biases in EWS
reconstructions, and may show a critical slowing down phenomenon in ecosystem before this
being collapsed.
21
Session 2
Assessing change in floodplain wetland condition in the Murray
Darling Basin
PETER GELL
Centre for Environmental Management, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Victoria,
Australia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Lowland Australian rivers and their floodplains have been affected by the progressive
introduction of agriculture, flow regulation and invasive exotic species for more than a century. In
the context of this complex suite of stressors, our capacity to understand and mitigate the causes
of ecosystem change is limited by the lack of historical records of the condition of ecosystems
over the past 200 to 300 years. However, records of change over this critical time period can be
established through analysis of sedimentary records. Such records can be used to provide
benchmarks of the range of natural conditions prior to European settlement and, by providing a
long time series of conditions, enhanced capacity to detect trends and trajectories of change.
Over the past two decades, more than 50 sediment records from billabongs, lagoons and
waterholes throughout the Murray-Darling Basin have been subject to palaeoecological analysis.
The picture that emerges from these studies is of ecosystems that have undergone substantial
ecological change in response to human activities; however, there are also intriguing differences
in the timing and nature of change experienced by aquatic ecosystems in different parts of the
Murray-Darling Basin. These patterns of ecosystem response appear to reflect underlying
differences in the resilience of these ecosystems in relation to different anthropogenic stressors,
which, in turn, may result from contrasting hydrologic, geomorphologic and climatic contexts.
This paper presents an attempt to systematically compile and summarise the palaeoecological
evidence of change in the aquatic ecosystems of the MDB and, in so doing, shed light on what
the principal drivers of change are in floodplain wetlands across the Murray-Darling Basin and
hence provide guidance as to how these systems can be best preserved and restored.
22
Damming-induced hydrological alternation hastened ecological
regime shift in the Yangtze floodplain lakes
XIANGDONG YANG, XUHUI DONG, XU CHEN, QIAN LIU
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography
and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Shallow lakes (more than 600 lakes with area >1 km2) in the middle and lower reaches of the
Yangtze floodplain (MLY) are one of the largest groups of lakes in the world. They are inherently
dynamic and important sites for biogeochemical cycling and biological habitats including humans.
Unfortunately most of them have undergone a substantial ecological degradation. Many lakes are
characterized by turbid water with algal bloom, eutrophication and poor aquatic biodiversity loss
over the past decades. Undoubtedly, the human activities (e.g. fishery, agriculture and industry)
derived pollution loading, coincidentally with the recent global warming, should be the important
reason blamed for this ecological cascading consequence.
Given the shallow in nature those lakes may suffer from significant hydrological impacts, not only
via the inner lake processes (such as water level change, residence time, turbulence) but also via
the catchment runoff (e.g. nutrient loading, soil erosion). For example, along the MLY, there were
several dams being built in early 1950s. Those dams, originally for the purpose of preventing
flooding, altered the hydrological condition of the lake and cut off the hydrological connection
between lakes and Yangtze River. By far, the ecological and environmental response to this
event has still remained unknown, partly due to lack of long-term monitoring data.
Palaeolimnology provides a robust technique to reconstruct historical environmental changes and
evaluate the ecological and environmental consequences of such kind of hydrological
alternations. This study focuses on four lakes from the Yangtze floodplain (Zhangdu Lake, Taibai
Lake, Chaohu Lake and Chihu Lake), to investigate a long-term (~200 years) environmental
change responding to altered connectivity with Yangtze River using high-resolution multi-proxy
analyses on 210Pb/137Cs dating, diatom, geochemistry, and grain size.
Long-term paleolimnological records, along with multi-variable statistical analysis in the above
lakes revealed that the altered hydrological conditions derived from dam construction played a
key role in driving ecological change. With dam construction, nutrient accumulation was
enhanced thus triggered further ecological regime shifts, through changing the flow regime/lake
retention time, nutrient dynamics, and light climate.
23
Ecological and hydrological changes in floodplain wetlands of two
large river basins in Australia (River Murray) and China (Yangtze
River): Evidence from subfossil assemblages of cladocerans
1,a,b
c
c
GIRI KATTEL , XUHUI DONG , XIANGDONG YANG
a
Collaborative Research Network (CRN), University of Ballarat, Mt Helen, Ballarat, Vic
b
3350, Australia; School of Science, Information Technology & Engineering, University of
Ballarat, Mt Helepeng
n, Ballarat, Vic 3350, Australia;
Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
Road, Nanjing 210008, China
1
Email: [email protected]
c
Abstract
The two of the world’s large river basins, the River Murray and the Yangtze River, have been
intensively developed for the provision of food and water resources. Long term archives of
change reveal that man-made infrastructures in the river and catchment modifications for
agricultural and industrial development have reduced the resilience of floodplain wetlands of
these large river basins as a result of variability in river flows, lake levels and associated
ecosystem structure and functions. The river regulations imposed during the 20th centuries has
been considered one of the major driving forces transforming the hydrology and ecology of these
river basins. In order to reveal these changes in an inter-continental scale, we have taken
sediment cores from the floodplain wetlands of the River Murray and the Yangtze River, and
analysed a high resolution subfossil assemblages of cladocerans as proxy indicators for
identifying the major hydrological and ecological responses to human disturbances. Our results
show that Kings Billabong (River Murray) and Zhangdu Lake (Yangtze River) in Australia and
China both have indicated strong responses to anthropogenic disturbances including river
regulations for river flows and catchment modifications. The stress caused by anthropogenic
factor, for example, construction of dams, and weirs was indicated by cladocerans by producing
a large number of resting eggs in wetlands of both river systems. Ratios of littoral to planktonic
(L:P) assemblages of subfossil cladocerans showed that in the River Murray, since the regulation
imposed for irrigation purposes in 1927 AD, the hydrology of Kings Billabong has undergone a
significant change from the naturally occurring dry-wet cycles to permanently inundated periods
with low L: P ratios. While in the Yangtze River, following the construction of the Three Gorges
dam in 1954 AD, Zhangdu Lake was disconnected from the river, resulting in a significant shift in
the hydrology of the lake with high L:P ratios. The diversity and abundance of subfossil
planktonic (e.g. Bosmina), and littoral cladocerans (small species of Alona) in floodplain wetlands
of the both river systems following the disturbances have also reflected a gradual shift in water
quality and existing alternative stable states in ecosystems indicating a reduction in the
ecological resilience of floodplain wetlands over the period.
24
Understanding the impacts of multiple stressors and associated
regime shifts in shallow wetlands
JENNY DAVIS
Research Professor, Water Science Program, Institute for Applied Ecology,
University of Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Adjunct Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University,
Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Much evidence suggests that nutrient-enriched, shallow, permanent lakes and wetlands typically
exist in either of two alternative stable states or regimes: a clear-water state dominated by
macroscopic plants or a turbid-water state dominated by microscopic phytoplankton. In European
lakes, where phosphorus is often limiting, macroscopic plants typically dominate when total
phosphorus (TP) is less than 50 µg L-1 and phytoplankton dominate when total phosphorus
exceeds 150 µg L-1 . Predicting which state will dominate between these two thresholds is more
difficult because feedback mechanisms hinder macroscopic plants invading a phytoplanktondominated system and vice versa. Hysteresis occurs because there is not a simple linear
relationship between nutrient concentration and the abundance of phytoplankton or macroscopic
plants. Non-linear dynamics prevail and regime change can only occur when nutrient thresholds
and associated feedback mechanisms are overcome. Although nutrient-driven state changes are
well documented, other state changes can be driven by water regime, salinity and organic matter
loadings. Work on wetlands in south Western Australia indicated that a multi-state model was
applicable to perennial salinised wetlands where salinity, rather than nutrient concentration, was
the main water quality driver. The finding that a dual state model did not apply to Western
Australian wetlands with a seasonal water regime indicated that water regime is also influential.
Understanding the dynamics and drivers of regime change is essential for effective wetland
management. Developing conceptual models of regime change provides a powerful tool for
integrating data on physical, chemical and biological features of standing waters into concepts
that can generate testable predictions and guide restoration activities.
25
Session 3
Optimization of a protocol for the quantification of black carbon in
peat soils
a, b
a, c
a
1,a
CHUANYU GAO , QIANXIN LIN , XIANGUO LU , GUOPING WANG
a
Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography
and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, China;
b
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China;
c
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast & Environment,
Louisiana; State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
1
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Black carbon (BC), resulted primarily from combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, is a key
component of PM2.5 in aerosols and could cause global warming. Emission and deposition of
BC are becoming a hot topic recently. Seven methods have been developed for quantifying BC
by using a range of materials. However, no single method is regarded suitable for all materials
being used. Unlike the materials such as sediments or loess, have suitably fitted methods for
measuring BC, there has no appropriate method being used for soils with high organic materials
(e.g. peat soils). Among all methods dichromate oxidation and chemothermal oxidation (CTO375)
methods could quantitatively estimate BC and stable carbon isotopes of BC simultaneously.
These methods are least expensive, and could be carried out in most laboratories. Here, we
have compared the two quantitative approaches, modification and optimization methods for BC
extraction from peat soils. The results show that the CTO375 method may destroy a foremost
component of BC in peat soils which is produced by wildfire (lower than 800°C), and not suitable
for measuring BC in peat soils. Through the test of black carbon reference materials (wood char),
increasing the number of 0.1mol/L NaOH for 12h to twice could remove humic acid in peat soils
completely and would not cause the content of BC lower than from the method being used
originally (new method: 48.7-50.2%, n=3; original method: 48.4-55.8%, n=4). In all, dichromate
oxidation method, a stepwise removal of humic acid is better to measure the content of BC in
peat soils.
26
Resilience and adaptive capacity of floodplain vegetation to climate
and hydrological change
SAMANTHA CAPON
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD 4222, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Variable and unpredictable hydrological disturbances are a prominent feature of river-floodplain
ecosystems, especially in drylands. Vegetation in these habitats typically exhibits a high degree
of resilience to both floods and droughts, conferred by a range of traits at individual plant,
population and community levels. Changes to hydrological disturbance regimes resulting from
anthropogenic activities and climate change have the potential to exceed the limits of such
resilience mechanisms and thereby transform the composition, function and identity of these
systems. Knowledge of vegetation resilience and its limits in floodplain ecosystems is therefore
critical for effective decision making regarding their conservation and natural resources
management.
Here, I synthesise recent research concerning the resilience of vegetation in floodplains to
flooding and drought. Key mechanisms of resilience operating at the level of individual plants,
populations and communities are identified. Potential limits to resilience mechanisms, as well as
the factors influencing these, are also explored including the capacity of mechanisms of
resilience to hydrological disturbances to confer resilience to other disturbances (e.g. warming).
Finally, the adaptability and transformability of floodplain vegetation are discussed, especially
with respect to autonomous and planned adaptation to climate change.
27
Diatom-based ecological classification of shallow lakes in the Badain
Jaran Desert (Inner Mongolia, China)
1,a
a
a
a
PATRICK RIOUAL , XIAOPING YANG , YANBIN LU , GUOQIANG CHU , JONATHAN
b
a
c
b
d
HOLMES , XIAOZONG REN , LOUIS SCUDERI , HANDONG YANG , BINGQI ZHU
a
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China;
b
Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London, London, UK;
c
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque,
USA;
d
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Beijing, China
1
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
In recent years in northern China, widespread drought-induced lake shrinkage and desiccation
have been observed. In that context, it is crucial to study these threatened shallow lake
ecosystems. This paper focuses on the diversity and composition of diatom assemblages in
surface-sediment samples and assesses the potential for a diatom-based classification of
shallow lakes in the Badain Jaran Desert, Inner Mongolia. Surface-sediment samples and
associated limnological data were collected from 42 sites. The first axis of a principal
components analysis on the environmental variables is highly correlated with the salinity
gradient. Diatoms were absent from the 16 most saline lakes in the dataset, i.e. with values for
-1
salinity > 80 g L . The 26 remaining lakes, in which diatoms were found, were classified using
hierarchical cluster analysis and similarities between samples were mapped using non-metric
multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Three lake groups were defined that closely correlate with lake
water salinity.
The type-specific diatom taxa for the three lake types were determined by using indicator species
analysis (IndVal). The diatom flora of subsaline lakes is remarkable as it is a mixture of
freshwater species with taxa associated with alkaline springs, seepage areas and brackish
conditions. A rapid loss of diversity as salinity increases is observed, in agreement with previous
studies.
28
Testate amoebae ecology and biogeography in peatlands of central
China and Northern America, in relation to hydrology and human
activities
a,b
YANGMIN QIN
a
Department of Geography, School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences
(Wuhan), Wuhan, 430074, China;
b
State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of
Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Testate amoebae are a diverse and abundant group of soil protozoa that constitute a large
proportion of microbial biomass in many ecosystems, and probably fill important roles in
ecosystem functioning. These microorganisms have attracted the interest of paleoecologists
because the preserved shells of testate amoebae and the known hydrological preferences of
many taxa allow the reconstruction of past hydrological change. In ombrotrophic peatlands
surface wetness reflects hydroclimate, so testate amoebae play an increasingly important role in
the reconstruction of Holocene climate change. Previous studies, however, have been
geographically restricted, mostly to North America and Europe. We studied the ecology of testate
amoebae in peatlands from central China in relation to hydrology, pH and metal concentrations.
We found that the testate amoeba community structure was correlated with depth to water table
(DWT), and that the hydrological preferences of species generally matched those of previous
studies. We developed a weighted average DWT transfer function that allows the prediction of
water table depth with a cross-validated mean error of less than 5 cm. Our results demonstrate
the potential for testate amoebae to be used for palaeohydrological reconstruction in China. Such
studies could contribute to our understanding of the Holocene climatic changes in China,
particularly regarding past Asian monsoon activity.
29
Session 4
The experience of river basin management in the Rhine and Danube
and the suggestion to the Huai River
PENGFEI DU
School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing, China
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
The water pollution in Huai River has attracted enormous attention of the government and
residents in China. To prevent water pollution and improve the living environment along the Huai
River, the government has taken plenty of measures and spent a great deal of money, however,
the result of which is not good enough. In order to find out the reason why the measures are not
effective, it is necessary to summarize the work that has been done in the river basin abroad,
where water environment and water quality have improved greatly, from the aspect of river basin
management institution, monitoring and warning system and public participation mechanism. In
order to put forward more useful suggestions, the effect of the work about the prevention and
control of water pollution in Huai river basin is compared with that in the Rhine and the Danube.
Through the above analysis, suggestions about how to improve the results of the work about the
water pollution control are given. It is suggested that the river basin management departments of
government should publish a more comprehensive policy about the water pollution control,
improve public participation mechanism, etc.
30
Developing models on floodplain wetland ecosystems structure and
functions following disturbances
1 a
b
c
d
e
MICHAEL REID , , PETER GELL , THOMAS DAVIDSON , CARL SAYER , JOHN TIBBY ,
f
JENNIE FLUIN
a
Riverine Landscapes Research Lab, University of New England, Armidale, NSW;
b
Centre for Environmental Management, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, VIC;
cDepartment of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark;
dDepartment of Geography, University College London, London, UK;
eGeographical and Environmental Studies, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
1
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Australia is a dry, low relief, tectonically inactive continent and, as a result, freshwater habitat is
relatively scarce. In this context, lowland floodplain rivers are disproportionately important
ecologically. Not only do these rivers support freshwater ecosystems across vast areas, the
productivity and biodiversity generated by these ecosystems within a severely water-limited
landscape supports the terrestrial ecosystems of the broader landscape. Not surprisingly,
humans make use of the water subsidy provided by floodplain rivers and have built a substantial
agricultural economy based on these systems in south east Australia, notably within the MurrayDarling Basin (MDB), which takes up most of the interior of this region. The effects of agriculture
and water resource development on the freshwater ecosystems of the MDB are widely held to
have been substantial, but the precise nature and degree of changes is difficult to determine
because agricultural developments began long before any systematic ecological study.
Numerous palaeoecological studies of floodplain lakes and wetlands have been undertaken in
order to establish long term ecological histories within these systems. Palaeoecological records
support the notion that agriculture and water resource development have had a profound impact
on individual sites. Nevertheless, it is difficult to establish cause-effect relationships because of
the complex array of drivers that operate across multiple spatial and temporal scales to influence
floodplain lake and wetland ecosystems and because of the complex sedimentary processes that
influence the way in which ecosystem character is recorded in sediment sequences. In this
context, there is a need to utilise replicate records in order to separate the broader ‘signal’ of
regional-scale environmental change from the ‘noise’ of natural spatial and temporal variability.
This study is a systematic regional synthesis of palaeoecological records from floodplain lakes
and wetlands in the southern MDB. Results indicate that agriculture and water resource
development have resulted widespread ecological change in many of these systems, most
notably a shift from systems dominated by littoral production to systems dominated by pelagic
production due to an apparent loss of submerged aquatic plants. However, not all lakes and
wetlands experienced this shift and susceptibility to plant loss appears to reflect the underlying
hydrological and geomorphological character of individual lakes and wetlands. Ongoing research
is focused on developing ecological response models that describe the relationship between
hydrological and geomorphological character and ecological responses and which could be used
to guide management and rehabilitation actions.
31
Temporal and spatial variability of phytoplankton in Lake Poyang:
The largest freshwater lake in China
a,b
a
a
a,b
1, a,
a
ZHAOSHI WU , YONGJIU CAI , XIA LIU , CAI PING XU , YUWEI CHEN , LU ZHANG
a
Poyang Lake Laboratory for Wetland Ecosystem Research, State Key Laboratory of Lake
Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China;
b
Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China
1
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
The composition and both the temporal and spatial distribution of phytoplankton were studied in
Lake Poyang. Samples were collected every 3 months from January 2009 to October 2011 at 15
sites. The phytoplankton community was found to be belonging to seven groups, with
Bacillariophyta dominating. No significant difference was observed in the phytoplankton
community structure at any of the sites (p = 0.2371), except one site; however, the structure was
significantly different with regard to annual and seasonal trends (p =0.0001and p b 0.0001,
respectively). Aulacoseira granulata, Synedra acus, Fragilaria virescens, and Cryptomonas erosa
were the main contributors to the dissimilarity in temporal distribution. Although the nutrient
concentrations for 3 years combined were relatively high (mean total nitrogen was 1.719 mg L−1
and mean total phosphorus was 0.090 mg L−1), phytoplankton biomass was low (mean total
biomass of 0.203 mg L−1). The underwater light condition, as indicated by the Secchi Depth, was
shown to be the principal limiting factor in regulating the growth of phytoplankton, and the
transparency coincided with biomass variation on a seasonal level. The effect of nutrients on
phytoplankton may be concealed by the water level, which varied over a wide range among
different seasons. However, the annual trend for the biomass was associated with the nutrient
concentration, which increased yearly and initiated the development of phytoplankton. The
biomass is high in the south and low in the north, which may be the result of greater underwater
light climate and high nutrient concentrations in the southern area.
32
Floodplain wetland dynamics: the importance of hydrological
connectivity between rivers and floodplain wetlands
MARTIN THOMS, RAJESH THAPA, MELISSA PARSONS
Riverine Landscapes Research Laboratory, University of New England, Armidale, NSW,
Australia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Periodic hydrological connection between floodplain wetlands and their adjacent river channel is
a significant driver of the spatial heterogeneity and biodiversity of these ecosystems. Relatively
little is known of the longer-term response of floodplain wetland vegetation productivity to periodic
hydrological connection. Floodplain wetland productivity has been hypothesized as an adaptive
loop of biomass conservation and release, driven by flooding. In this study, monthly vegetation
greenness response patterns were examined and analysed via the Normalized Vegetation Index
(NDVI) for a major floodplain inundation event and an extended dry period. Markovian Transition
Matrix Models were developed through a pixel-by-pixel change analysis of these images, tracking
the spatial response of floodplain wetland vegetation across the Narran floodplain in SE
Australia, during a period of hydrological connection. NDVI differed between the wet and dry
periods of hydrological connection. NDVI values were significantly higher in the wet period than
the dry period (z = 8.610; p < 0.01). NDVI also differed among the eight main vegetation
communities in the Narran floodplain (z = -9.336; p < 0.01). The diversity of NDVI transitions
between consecutive images was higher in the wet period, as was the degree of multidirectional
responses. Floodplain inundation generated a more heterogeneous NDVI response following
wetting and elevated NDVI values were sustained for over four months after initial inundation. In
contrast, NDVI values fluctuated around a stable state during the dry with some vegetation
maintaining a stable pattern while others recorded a decline. NDVI response patterns across the
Narran floodplain wetland in association with this hydrological connection were more complex
than suggested by a simple adaptive loop model.
33
Robust recycling of water: The water plant of the future
PETER SCALES
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Melbourne, 3010,
Victoria, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Our communities, both large and small, have traditionally disposed of waste water to our rivers,
lakes and oceans using treatment practices that ensure that particulates, pathogens, chemicals
of concern and nutrients are at such a level as to ensure that the receiving water source is both
not nutrified or immediately hazardous to both environmental and human health. The assumption
herein is that dilution to the receiving waters is significant and that the assimilation time is
sufficient for natural degradation processes to dominate. Whilst these practices have served us
well, population growth and inadequate catchment protection has placed great pressures on our
rivers and lakes and many of these water resources are no longer recognisable as a protected
water supply for potable input to our communities using conventional water treatment nor as an
environmental domain that can sustain biodiversity. In short, the inputs into many of our rivers
and lakes are beyond the point where natural ecosystem processes can purify the water and
population pressure is such that conventional processing will never recover the situation.
Traditional water treatment systems for potable supply and waste have conventionally been
separate processes but in a highly populous domain, where the source and receiving waters are
beyond the tipping point, it is appropriate to revisit the concept. In this scenario, water sources
are deemed ‘unprotected’ and need non-conventional treatment and waste water treatment
needs to go beyond secondary processing since assimilation rates in receiving waters are too
slow. It is of note that the treatment processes required to achieve both goals merge whereby
tertiary treatment of waste water to achieve an output with limited or no environmental impact
and treatment of waters with pathogens and contaminants beyond those that can be dealt by
conventional coagulation and coarse filtration practices, are very similar. Thus, production of
waste water for environmental discharge from secondary treated waste water and production of
potable water become one and the same.
The water plant of the future needs to deal with the many types of water that our community
needs. This includes the needs of recreation, households, industry and the environment. In a
highly protected catchment, conventional practices appear appropriate but this is becoming less
common with time. Work in our group, in collaboration with Victoria University and a number of
water industry service providers, has looked to develop a robust water recycle plant. The plant is
designed to not only be low on maintenance, energy (relative to desalination of seawater) and
chemical use but be able to deal with a wide variety of source contaminants, to not only produce
a potable quality product but a discharge (waste) that is also of very high quality in terms of
maintaining environmental values.
34
Successful restoration of a tropical shallow eutrophic lake: strong
bottom-up but weak top-down effects recorded
1 a
a
a
a
b
ZHENWEN LIU , , PING ZHONG , XIUFENG ZHANG , JIAJIA NING , SØREN E. LARSEN ,
b
ERIK JEPPESEN
a
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography
and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China;
b
Department of Bioscience, Lake Ecology, Aarhus University, Denmark
1
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Fish manipulation has been used to restore lakes in the temperate zone. Often strong short-term
cascading effects have been obtained, but the long term-perspectives are less clear. Fish
manipulation methods are far less advanced for warm lakes, and it is debatable whether it is, in
fact, possible to create a trophic cascade in warm lakes due to the dominance and high densities
of fast-reproducing omnivorous fish. However, other important aims of fish manipulation, for
instance removal of benthic feeding fish, are to reduce disturbance of the sediment, which not
only affects the nutrient level but also the concentration of suspended organic and inorganic
matter with reduced clarity as a result, and hampers growth of submerged macrophytes. We
conducted a biomanipulation experiment in two basins of Chinese Huizhou West Lake that has
remained highly turbid after extensive nutrient loading reduction. A third basin was used as
control (control-treatment pairing design). Removal of a substantial amount of planktibenthivorous fish was followed by planting of submerged macrophytes and stocking of
piscivorous fish. We found strong and relatively long-lasting effects of the restoration initiative in
the form of substantial improvements in water clarity and major reductions in nutrient
concentrations, particularly total phosphorus, phytoplankton and turbidity, while only minor effects
were detected for crustacean zooplankton grazers occurring in low densities before as well as
after restoration. Our results add importantly to the existing knowledge of restoration of warm
lakes and are strongly relevant, not least in Asia where natural lakes frequently are used
extensively for fish production, often involving massive stocking of benthivorous fish. With a
growing economy and development of more efficient fish production systems, the interest in
restoring lakes is increasing world-wide. We found convincing evidence that fish removal and
piscivores stocking combined with transplantation of submerged macrophytes may have a
substantial role in conservation and management of warm lakes.
35
Poster presentation
Developing and applying two methods that use subfossil Australian
chironomid (non-biting midge) as proxies for past climate and
environmental change
JIE CHANG
School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, University of
Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, 4072 Queensland, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Methods that will use the fossilised remains of non-biting midge larvae (chironomids) preserved
in lake sediments to reconstruct past changes in the Australian climate and freshwater lake
system are under development. The first method will create a model (transfer-function) to
reconstruct past summer temperatures and lake trophic conditions based on the temperature and
nutrient level tolerance of Australian chironomid species living in south Australian lakes
today. The second method will be based on the stable oxygen and deuterium isotope
18
composition (δ O and δD) of the heads from south Australian chironomids.
Previous studies have shown that the fossilised heads of non-biting midge larvae act as a ‘time
capsule’ that preserves the stable isotope of the lake water in which they live (Wooller et al.,
18
2004). A temperature effect will be one of the most important controls on lake water δ O in
18
southern Australia. Therefore I will be able to use δ O from fossilised chironomid heads as
another method for reconstructing past changes in temperature. Deuterium (δD) from chironomid
head capsules can possibly be used for nutrient relationship inference however, this has not
been explored. Both of these methods will be applied to chironomid remains extracted from lake
sediment deposits in southern Australia. This project will be the first to develop a chironomid
stable isotope method for reconstructing past conditions in the Southern Hemisphere, and the
first worldwide to use both a chironomid transfer function stable isotope method from the same
sites.
The development and application of these new proxies will help us to understand the impact by
human and climate change on lake and wetland system and further, to develop strategies for
management and restoration of freshwater bodies for promoting ecological resilience.
36
An early Holocene diatom record of climatic and limnological
changes in Lake Xiaolongwan, Northeastern China: preliminary
results
QIANG GAO, PATRICK RIOUAL, GUOQIANG CHU
Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and
Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
This study focuses on the early Holocene (from 11.5 to 7.9 kcal years BP) diatom sedimentary
record of Lake Xiaolongwan, a small and relatively shallow maar lake located in the Longgang
volcanic field (Jilin Province, NE China). The characteristics of this lake allowed for the
development and preservation of an annually laminated sedimentary sequence. Varve count
14
and C dating were used to build an age model for this sequence. Diatom analysis shows that
the early stage of the Holocene (11.5~11.2 cal kyrs BP) is characterized by a planktonic
assemblage dominated by Stephanodiscus minutulus, Discostella tatrica and Asterionella
formosa. The following interval (11.2 ~ 9.0 cal kyrs BP) is characterized by a diverse assemblage
dominated by benthic species and low diatom concentration. During this interval, the deposition
of laminated sediment was interrupted by a slump deposit identified by sharp changes in water
content and dry bulk density. This disturbance in sedimentation was most likely related to a
volcanic eruption of regional origin. The final stage (9.0 ~ 7.9 kyrs BP) is marked by a sharp
increase in diatom concentration and the return of a plankton-dominated assemblage with large
fluctuations between the main species S. minutulus, D. tatrica and A. formosa. The last shift
between S. minutulus and D. tatrica may coincide with the 8.2 kyrs cooling event.
37
A brief assessment of diatom assemblages and seasonal dynamics
in Lake Qinghai: a time-series sediment trap study
1, a,
b
a
YUMEI PENG
PATRICK RIOUAL , ZHANGDONG JIN
a
State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’An 710075, China;
b
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China
1
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Thirty sediment trap samples collected between July 2010 and October 2011 in Lake Qinghai
and 21 modern samples collected in September 2012 offshore Lake Qinghai area were analysed
for diatoms. Fifty-six diatom species belonging to 32 genera were identified. The diatom
community was mainly composed of brackish species with a few freshwater species. Berkeleya
rutilans, Cocconeis placentula var. euglypta, Cyclotella choctawhatcheeana and Nitzschia
inconspicua were the dominant species, which accounted for more than 82% of the diatom flux.
Seasonal variation was distinct in the diatom assemblage succession. During winter, planktonic
diatom Cyclotella choctawhatcheeana dominated in the trap samples, while epilithic and
epiphytic species dominated during non-ice-covered period. However, on account of the high
alkalinity in Lake Qinghai, dissolution of diatom is severe. Although the severity of dissolution
also changed seasonally, high in summer and low in winter, it was not the main factor driving the
seasonal changes in diatom assemblages. We suggested that the seasonal variation in diatom
assemblage might depend upon other factors, such as the growth of aquatic plants and ice
cover.
38
Author index
A
B
C
YONGJIU CAI
SAMANTHA CAPON
JIE CHANG
YUWEI CHEN
XU CHEN
PREM CHHETRI
GUOQIANG CHU
31
26
35
31
22
18
27, 36
D
THOMAS DAVIDSON
JENNY DAVIS
XUHUI DONG
PENGFEI DU
30
24
18, 20, 22, 23
29
E
F
CM FINLAYSON
JENNIE FLUIN
16
30
G
CHUANYU GAO
QIANG GAO
PETER GELL
25
36
21, 30
H
JONATHAN HOLMES
27
39
I
J
ERIK JEPPESEN
ZHANGDONG JIN
34
37
K
GIRI KATTEL
18, 23
L
SØREN E. LARSEN
QIANXIN LIN
JUNGUO LIU
QIAN LIU
XIA LIU
ZHENGWEN LIU
XIANGUO LU
YANBIN LU
34
25
17
22
31
34
25
27
M
XU MIN
18
N
JIAJIA NING
34
O
P
MELISSA PARSONS
YUMEI PENG
32
37
Q
YANGMIN QIN
28
R
MICHAEL REID
JESSICA REEVES
XIAOZONG REN
PATRICK RIOUAL
30
27
27, 36, 37
40
S
CARL SAYER
PETER SCALES
LOUIS SCUDERI
30
33
27
T
RAJESH THAPA
MARTIN THOMS
JOHN TIBBY
32
32
30
U
V
W
GUOPING WANG
RONG WANG
QIAN WANG
ZHAOSHI WU
25
20
20
31
X
Y
HANDONG YANG
XIANGDONG YANG
XIAOPING YANG
27
18, 20, 22, 23
27
Z
LU ZHANG
XIUFENG ZHANG
ZHENMING ZHANG
PING ZHONG
BINGQI ZHU
31
34
17
34
27
41
Gallery
NIGLAS
Federation University Australia
Upper Yangtze River
Murray River Wetland
Kakadu National Park wetlands
Yangtze River
Photo by: Giri Kattel