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Palaeoecological evidence for sustained change in a shallow Murray River (Australia) floodplain lake: regime shift or press response?

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Abstract

Paleolimnological techniques can reveal long-term perturbations and associated stable state transitions of lake ecosystems. However, such transitions are difficult to predict since changes to lake ecosystems can be abrupt or gradual. This study examined whether there were past transitions in the ecological regime of Kings Billabong, a shallow River Murray wetland in southeast Australia. A 94-cm-long core, covering c. 90 years of age, was analysed at 1 cm resolution for subfossil cladocerans, diatoms and other proxies. Prior to river regulation (c. 1930), the littoral to planktonic ratios of cladocerans and diatoms, and bulk sediment δ13C values were high, while the period from c. 1930 to c. 1970 experienced considerable changes to the wetland ecosystem. The abrupt nature of changes of planktonic cladocerans and diatoms, particularly after the onset of river regulation (1930s), was triggered by inundation, high rates of sedimentation and shifts in bulk sediment δ15N values. However, the transition of a once littoral-dominated community, to one favouring an increasingly turbid, plankton-dominated trophic condition following river regulation was relatively slow and lasted for decades. The progression to a new regime was likely delayed by the partial recovery of submerged plant communities and related internal dynamics.

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Acknowledgments

The AINSE Grant # AINSEGRA11087 to GK supported this research. The laboratory assistance was provided by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), and the field work was supported by the Collaborative Research Network (CRN), and the School of Applied and Biomedical Sciences, Federation University Australia. Rob Milne from the FedUni Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation assisted to design Fig. 1 using GIS. Iain Ellis from the MDFRC provided further information about the fish species present in Kings Billabong. A part of this research was also written whilst GK was working as a CAS-PIFI Professorial Fellow at the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGLAS).

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  1. Water Research Network, Federation University Australia, Mt Helen, VIC, 3350, Australia

    Giri Kattel & Peter Gell

  2. School of Applied & Biomedical Sciences, Federation University Australia, Mt Helen, VIC, 3350, Australia

    Giri Kattel & Peter Gell

  3. Hydrology and Water Resources Group, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Giri Kattel

  4. State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Giri Kattel

  5. ANSTO Institute for Environmental Research, Lucas Heights, NSW, 2232, Australia

    Atun Zawadzki & Linda Barry

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Kattel, G., Gell, P., Zawadzki, A. et al. Palaeoecological evidence for sustained change in a shallow Murray River (Australia) floodplain lake: regime shift or press response?. Hydrobiologia 787, 269–290 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-2970-9

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