Researcher Mr Kane Aldridge driving research vessel 'Thallasia' in the Narrows, the connection between Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert, with Point Malcolm Lighthouse in the background.

Research vessel 'Thallasia' in the Narrows, between Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert.

Research into the Lower Lakes as a food source for the Coorong and Murray Mouth

Land and Water Australia and the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth Ecology Research Cluster (CLLAMMecology) have established a partnership to investigate the role of the Lower Lakes as a food source for the Coorong and Murray Mouth in South Australia.

  • 21 January 2008 | Updated 31 July 2012

Background

Lake Albert and Lake Alexandrina make up a set of large, shallow lakes that form the interface between the Murray-Darling River and the Murray Mouth region. 

These lakes are part of the 'Coorong, Lakes Alexandrina and Albert' Ramsar site and host significant populations of waterbirds and native fish, including endangered species such as the Murray hardyhead. 

The lakes also play an important ecological role in transforming nutrient inputs from the river into food sources for the downstream ecosystems of the Coorong and Murray Mouth.

Project aims

This project is the first large scale investigation of the role of the Lower Lakes as a food source for the Coorong and Murray Mouth. 

The project includes:

  1. a review of nutrient transformations during transit in the Lower Lakes

  2. This project is the first large scale investigation of the role of the Lower Lakes as a food source for the Coorong and Murray Mouth.

    the development of an hydrodynamic model to quantify nutrient transformation and organic matter export from the lakes
  3. the monitoring of temperature, salinity, nutrient concentration, turbidity and phytoplankton production at inshore and offshore locations.

Due to the ongoing drought in the Murray Basin, a recent emphasis of  the project has been monitoring the impacts of decreased water levels on salinity and nutrient dynamics in the Lower Lakes.

Partnership

This project is a collaboration between research partners:

  • CSIRO
  • The University of Adelaide through the CLLAMMecology (Coorong Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth Ecology) Research Cluster
  • Western Australian Centre for Water Research.

Funding partners are:

  • Land and Water Australia
  • CSIRO Flagship Collaboration Fund
  • South Australia Water.

These partnerships will develop synergies with ongoing ecological research, leading to a better understanding of the region's ecology.

The CLLAMMecology Cluster involves:

  • The University of Adelaide, South Australia
  • Flinders University of South Australia
  • South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI)
  • the South Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage.

It is developing tools to predict how changes in management practices, such as environmental flow releases and the operation of the Lower Lakes barrages, are likely to impact on ecosystem function and biodiversity.

Find out more about CLLAMMecology partnerships at CLLAMMecology: A whole-of-system approach to plan management intervention in the Coorong.