This experiment is part of the Benthic Ecology Challenge Grant. Browse more projects

Why benthic cladocerans (water fleas) show signs of changing lake water quality and ecosystem?

$9
Raised of $5,120 Goal
1%
Ended on 1/27/17
Campaign Ended
  • $9
    pledged
  • 1%
    funded
  • Finished
    on 1/27/17

About This Project

The River Murray system in Murray Darling Basin (MDB) of Southeast Australia contains vast numbers of shallow floodplain lakes. Some of these lakes are clear while the others are turbid despite their close proximity, and connectivity to the river, and exposure to humans. Our project will devise whether benthic cladocerans in these two contrasting floodplain lakes, show signs of differential timing in water quality through their changes in assemblage and diversity in the past?

Ask the Scientists

Join The Discussion

What is the context of this research?

The shallow Murray River lakes of MDB of Southeast Australia are characteristic to macrophyte rich or phytoplankton dominated system. Macrophyte-dominated lakes are clear and have minimal human impacts, while the phytoplankton-dominated lakes are turbid due to increased catchment disturbances. Fossils of benthic cladocerans are preserved in lake sediment and can reflect past water quality change. Barmah Lake (Victoria) and Pikes Creek (South Australia) show contrasts in stable macrophyte vs stable phytoplankton regime despite their close proximity, and connectivity to the river and are exposed to similar human impacts over the past decades . Using benthic cladocerans, we identify the timing of shifts in lake water quality and compare them between the two lakes.

What is the significance of this project?

In Australia, provision of environmental flows and lake water quality to maintain lake ecosystems have the prime objective of restoring degraded system. However, the condition of many Murray River lakes is unknown and the ecosystems of these lakes are facing critical conservation and management challenges today. The use of benthic cladocerans is increasingly becoming a novel approach to address water quality issues due to preservation of their fossils in lake sediment. A fine-scale detection of change in Barmah Lake (macrophyte-state) and Pikes Creek (phytoplankton-state) exposed to similar human impacts over the past decades will allow us to determine timing of shifts in water quality. This will help inform resource managers to apply appropriate restoration measures.

What are the goals of the project?

There are three goals. Firstly, this project will determine the ability of benthic cladocerans, and the novelty of the use of their fossils to infer long term dynamics of water quality and ecosystem change in two shallow floodplains Murray River lakes in Southeast Australia. Secondly, the diversity and assemblage of fossil benthic cladocerans in sediments will help understand the mechanisms behind the differences in varying ecosystem responses to changes of these floodplain lakes which undergoing similar anthropogenic impacts such as river regulation and catchment nutrient loads in the past. Finally, this project will provide some key recommendations that are applicable to resource managers for conservation and management of degraded Murray River floodplain lakes in Southeast Australia

Budget

Please wait...

A total of 60 lake sediment samples (Barmah Lake = 35 and Pikes Creek = 25) of the dated sediment cores are needed to complete for the analysis of fossil benthic cladocerans.

Laboratory analysis including the preparation of fossils and taxonomic identification of fossil benthic cladocerans under a microscope by an expert to be hired for 60 samples would require the cost of the total of 160 hours @ $32 = $5120.

Endorsed by

I fully support this project and believe that Giri is one of the most experienced ecologists and palaeoecologists to lead this, particularly in light of his specialist expertise in cladocerans. The project will address some critical questions in aquatic science where there is a growing need to understand the multiple stressors on lake ecosystems.
I am very pleased to express my support for the above project, which I understand will develop novelty approaches to examine/assess lake water quality and ecosystem by using benthic cladocerans. Freshwater ecosystem facing grant chanlleng globally, I think this innovative project will bring new insight about freshewater ecosytem chagne, which will be very useful for future environemnt managment.
I really believe that this project will bring important answers for ecology of water bodies. Cladocera as zooplankton organisms are very sensitive for environmental changes and using them as indicator of water quality is a excellent idea. I am also thinking that Giri is one of the best person who can hold this project.
Shallow lakes are some of the most threatened freshwater ecosystems on the planet due to both human impact and climate change. Yet our knowledge as to how these ecosystems have responded to change is poor. This project on benthic cladocera will further our understanding by investigating two lakes with contrasting water qualities. Pinpointing the factors which led to changes in ecosystem functioning is a key priority in our ability to effectively manage these lakes into the future.
The Murray River, and the shallow lakes in its floodplain, are crucial ecosystems for SE Australia and are under great stress due to human activities and climate change. Benthic Cladocerans are a key component in these ecosystems and provide clues on their present and past conditions. I know Giri for more than 10 years and he has developed an excellent level of expertise on this group of organisms and on shallow lake ecosystems on 3 continents (Europe, Asia and Australia). I am convinced he can run this very promising project successfully.
The project is very interesting and well formulated. Methods and scopes are sound and I'm convinced it will provide answer to important ecological questions. The propoenend has the necessary skill and experience to conduct the project.
Cladocera are an essential component of the zooplankton and littoral zoobenthos in lakes.In particular, their intermediate position in a lake food web makes them sensitive to shifts in both top–down and bottom–up forces, which are closely linked with changes in the physical and chemical lake environment, thus they are nice sentinels of past environmental changes. This project will use fossil cladocera in two MDB lakes to answer important ecological questions and will provide nice perspective on the manegement of such lakes. I fully support it.
There is a growing appreciation of the important role Cladocera play within the zooplankton community of freshwater systems. Their distinctive fossil record reflects and documents long term environmental changes informing management regimes especially in the shallow lake systems being studied here. This project has sound methods and outcomes which will provide the new levels of understanding important to protect these globally threatened habitats. Giri has the breadth of experience to deliver this project, I am very happy to support him
I strongly support this project. Floodplain lakes are valuable but threatened ecosystems. Understanding how and why they have changed through time is critical in developing management strategies for their restoration and protection. The approach proposed is both novel and potentially effective in addressing these questions, and the applicant is an experienced lake scientist fully capable of providing answers.
I fully endorse this project. Giri is a well-known palaeoecologist, with the expertise necessary to address the goals of this project: Using benthic cladocerans to infer long term dynamics of water quality in two degraded Murray River floodplain lakes.
I am happy to endorse this project. Cladoceran remains are of key importance for identifying shift in lakes, not least shallow lakes to be studied in this project. Giri Kattel has already many publication on this issue in various settings both from studies of lakes in UK, Australia and China - so he will be able to carry through the proposed project as planned.
This project will yield crucial information on the long term environmental trends in the Murray-Darling Basin - not only the impacts of more recent European colonisation, but also long terms trends in climate and rainfall. Understanding the degree of variability in regional climate is crucial for long term planning for sustainable management.

Meet the Team

Giri Kattel
Giri Kattel

Giri Kattel

I am an ecologist and palaeoecologist with expertise in management of lakes and rivers. My passion to work on freshwaters goes back to my childhood time. I grew up in a small village surrounded by rich natural lakes and rivers in the Nepal Himalaya. Following I had a Bachelor of Science degree from Nepal, my passion to learn freshwater sciences grew, and brought me to do an M.Sc. in Freshwater Ecology at the University of Otago (New Zealand). In my M.Sc., I focused my research on the dynamics of modern fish and zooplankton including cladocerans. However, I was deeply interested to understand the long term environmental change including climates and ecosystems of lakes and rivers. My research interests in environmental change in lakes and rivers brought me to do a PhD at the Environmental Change Research Centre of the Department of Geography of University College London (UK). Following PhD, I have been working in various countries, including the UK, New Zealand, Germany, Australia and China to extend my scientific endeavour in different parts of the world. Currently, I am a Visiting Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Nanjing). Over the past 7 years, I have been working extensively in large river basins of Australia and Asia including the Murray, Yangtze and Mekong River basins. Lately I was awarded the Australia-China Science and Research Fund from the Government of Australia to study resilience of the Murray and Yangtze River basins. Currently, I am one of the international partner investigators of the key National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) project “Resilience of the Yangtze River Basin”


Project Backers

  • 2Backers
  • 1%Funded
  • $9Total Donations
  • $4.50Average Donation
Please wait...