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Angus (Gus) MacGregor
Research Project Title
A diatom-based palaeoecological reconstruction of the lower Snowy River floodplain: environmental response to climate change, land use and river regulation.
Description
This study aims to quantitatively and independently reconstruct the environmental history of the Lower Snowy River region of East Gippsland with respect to its climate, flow regime, water quality and vegetation. This will constitute the only direct means of gauging the magnitude of impact, or ecological opportunity costs, of changing land-use and the inter-basin water diversions from, and subsequent riparian and estuarine ecosystem degradation of, one of Australia’s hallmark river systems.
This qualification is further seen as a fundamental step in:
- Establishing a base-line environmental and climatic description of the Lower Snowy River region of East Gippsland
- Predicting the outcomes of current land and water management practices, including the impact of the Snowy Hydro ‘Environmental Flows’ Water Agreement.
- Forming a prescriptive basis for adaptive riparian and floodplain ecosystem management and rehabilitation
Supervisors
Peter Gell
John Tibby
Expertise
- Freshwater and Coastal (Brackish) Diatom Palaeolimnology
- The establishment of BASELINE CONDITIONS from fossilized diatom communities through the use of transfer functions
- IMPACT ASSESSMENT comparing pre- and post development, or upstream and downstream, diatom assemblages
- BIOMONITORING of seasonal water quality changes or recovery after rehabilitation
Contact Details
Angus (Gus) MacGregor
Geographical & Environmental Studies
The University of Adelaide
South Australia 5005
Research
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The University of Adelaide
