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Our research
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Conservation practice
- Water Information System for the Environment (WISE)
- Red list of ecosystems
- Shrub encroachment as a legacy of native mammal decline
- Foraging and habitat ecology of the yellow-tailed black-cockatoo
- Tackling prey naïveté in Australia’s threatened mammals
- Biodiversity sampling in Strzelecki Regional Reserve
- The reintroduction of locally extinct mammals: The landscape ecosystem approach
- The persistence of common wombats in road impacted environments
- Temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone
- Cumberland plain woodland restoration
- Strategic adaptive management
- Limit to climate change adaption in floodplain wetlands - Macquarie Marshes
- Managing for ecosystem change in the greater blue mountains world heritage area
- Adaptive management of Ramsar Wetlands
- Managing for biodiversity in boom and bust cycle environments
- Submission on Biodiversity Act Review
- Marine ecosystems
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Remote sensing and GIS
- Mangrove response to climatic variability
- Using radar satellite imagery to detect and monitor flooding in arid Australian wetlands
- Supporting continental retrieval of vegetation biophysical attributes
- The Injune Landscape Collaborative Project
- Tree species shifts in response to environmental change
- Regrowth mapping
- Regional biodiversity responses to climate change
- Will climate change affect the ecology of temporary lakes in Australia?
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Rivers and wetlands
- Changes to the Darling River and Menindee Lakes – past, present and future
- Lowbidgee wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin - The Nimmie-Caira
- A stitch in time – synergistic impacts to platypus metapopulation extinction risk
- Tube fishway project
- National waterbird survey
- Eastern Australian waterbird survey
- Feather map of Australia
- Life history and dynamics of a platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) population: four decades of mark-recapture surveys
- Adequacy of environmental assessment of the proposed Macquarie River pipeline to the city of Orange
- Increasing production from inland aquaculture in Papua New Guinea for food and income security
- Aquaculture and environmental planning group
- Understanding soil-related constraints on aquaculture production in the highlands of Papua New Guinea
- Improving technologies for inland aquaculture in Papua New Guinea (ACIAR Project FIS2014062)
- Drying of ancient Thirlmere Lakes caused by human activities
- Application of GIS and remote sensing to assess sustainable mariculture and protect conservation zones
- Improving the sustainability of rice-shrimp farming systems in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
- A SWOT analysis of Papua New Guinea’s inland fisheries and aquaculture sectors
- Carbon and floodplain biota in the Macquarie marshes
- Micro-invertebrate community dynamics and flooding in the Macquarie marshes
- Just add water? The effectiveness of environmental flows during wetland vegetation restoration
- Application of motion sensing cameras as a tool for monitoring riparian fauna
- Captive or wild?
- Brolga and Sarus crane diet comparison
- Lake Brewster pelican banding
- Aquatic invertebrate strategies for coping with drought
- Submission on Draft Lake Eyre Basin Strategic Plan
- The Menindee Lakes Water Savings Project – an example of poor decision-making
- Flow-MER
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Terrestrial ecosystems
- Post-fire recovery of threatened ecological communities
- Environment Recovery Project: Australian bushfires
- Community stability of upland swamp vegetation
- An innovative approach to maximising catchment water yield in a changing climate
- Post-fire seed production in Hakea Gibbosa
- Managing fire regimes with thresholds to save threatened flora and fauna
- Stopping the toad
- Trophic cascades in NSW North Coast forests
- Individual hunting behavior in feral cats
- Mallee Ecosystem Dynamics
- Investigating artificial waterhole utilisation and management in north-eastern Botswana
- Investigating the spatial ecology, habitat use, behaviour, and ecosystem engineering of hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), a keystone species in the Okavango Delta and Chobe River, northern Botswana
- Does overgrazing reduce ecosystem functions
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Postgraduate research projects
- Platypus breeding
- Maximising establishment success in reintroduced populations
- PhD scholarship saving our species - patch value, viability and resilience
- PhD scholarship – mechanics of species irruptions
- Conservation ecology of Greater bilby: survival, reproductive success and movement ecology in a breeding sanctuary in NSW
- Scientia PhD scholarship - Identifying healthy burning practices for Australia’s threatened plant species
- Scientia PhD scholarship - Ecosystem restoration through rewilding
- Platypus population health and dynamics
- Tackling prey naiveté in Australia’s endangered mammals
- Testate amoebae: a new biomarker of climate change and human impact in peatlands
- Surface water dynamics as a function of climate and river flow data
- Multisensor integration for environmental flows
- Response of northern Australian mangroves to climatic variability
- Comparative effects of extreme heat on threatened desert mammals
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- Home
- About us
-
Our research
Conservation practice
- Water Information System for the Environment (WISE)
- Red list of ecosystems
- Shrub encroachment as a legacy of native mammal decline
- Foraging and habitat ecology of the yellow-tailed black-cockatoo
- Tackling prey naïveté in Australia’s threatened mammals
- Biodiversity sampling in Strzelecki Regional Reserve
- The reintroduction of locally extinct mammals: The landscape ecosystem approach
- The persistence of common wombats in road impacted environments
- Temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone
- Cumberland plain woodland restoration
- Strategic adaptive management
- Limit to climate change adaption in floodplain wetlands - Macquarie Marshes
- Managing for ecosystem change in the greater blue mountains world heritage area
- Adaptive management of Ramsar Wetlands
- Managing for biodiversity in boom and bust cycle environments
- Submission on Biodiversity Act Review
Remote sensing and GIS
- Mangrove response to climatic variability
- Using radar satellite imagery to detect and monitor flooding in arid Australian wetlands
- Supporting continental retrieval of vegetation biophysical attributes
- The Injune Landscape Collaborative Project
- Tree species shifts in response to environmental change
- Regrowth mapping
- Regional biodiversity responses to climate change
- Will climate change affect the ecology of temporary lakes in Australia?
Rivers and wetlands
- Changes to the Darling River and Menindee Lakes – past, present and future
- Lowbidgee wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin - The Nimmie-Caira
- A stitch in time – synergistic impacts to platypus metapopulation extinction risk
- Tube fishway project
- National waterbird survey
- Eastern Australian waterbird survey
- Feather map of Australia
- Life history and dynamics of a platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) population: four decades of mark-recapture surveys
- Adequacy of environmental assessment of the proposed Macquarie River pipeline to the city of Orange
- Increasing production from inland aquaculture in Papua New Guinea for food and income security
- Aquaculture and environmental planning group
- Understanding soil-related constraints on aquaculture production in the highlands of Papua New Guinea
- Improving technologies for inland aquaculture in Papua New Guinea (ACIAR Project FIS2014062)
- Drying of ancient Thirlmere Lakes caused by human activities
- Application of GIS and remote sensing to assess sustainable mariculture and protect conservation zones
- Improving the sustainability of rice-shrimp farming systems in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
- A SWOT analysis of Papua New Guinea’s inland fisheries and aquaculture sectors
- Carbon and floodplain biota in the Macquarie marshes
- Micro-invertebrate community dynamics and flooding in the Macquarie marshes
- Just add water? The effectiveness of environmental flows during wetland vegetation restoration
- Application of motion sensing cameras as a tool for monitoring riparian fauna
- Captive or wild?
- Brolga and Sarus crane diet comparison
- Lake Brewster pelican banding
- Aquatic invertebrate strategies for coping with drought
- Submission on Draft Lake Eyre Basin Strategic Plan
- The Menindee Lakes Water Savings Project – an example of poor decision-making
- Flow-MER
Terrestrial ecosystems
- Post-fire recovery of threatened ecological communities
- Environment Recovery Project: Australian bushfires
- Community stability of upland swamp vegetation
- An innovative approach to maximising catchment water yield in a changing climate
- Post-fire seed production in Hakea Gibbosa
- Managing fire regimes with thresholds to save threatened flora and fauna
- Stopping the toad
- Trophic cascades in NSW North Coast forests
- Individual hunting behavior in feral cats
- Mallee Ecosystem Dynamics
- Investigating artificial waterhole utilisation and management in north-eastern Botswana
- Investigating the spatial ecology, habitat use, behaviour, and ecosystem engineering of hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), a keystone species in the Okavango Delta and Chobe River, northern Botswana
- Does overgrazing reduce ecosystem functions
-
Study with us
Postgraduate research projects
- Platypus breeding
- Maximising establishment success in reintroduced populations
- PhD scholarship saving our species - patch value, viability and resilience
- PhD scholarship – mechanics of species irruptions
- Conservation ecology of Greater bilby: survival, reproductive success and movement ecology in a breeding sanctuary in NSW
- Scientia PhD scholarship - Identifying healthy burning practices for Australia’s threatened plant species
- Scientia PhD scholarship - Ecosystem restoration through rewilding
- Platypus population health and dynamics
- Tackling prey naiveté in Australia’s endangered mammals
- Testate amoebae: a new biomarker of climate change and human impact in peatlands
- Surface water dynamics as a function of climate and river flow data
- Multisensor integration for environmental flows
- Response of northern Australian mangroves to climatic variability
- Comparative effects of extreme heat on threatened desert mammals
- Our Impact
- News
- Wild Deserts

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Project: Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
Observer: Terry Korn
With the threat of high temperatures into the 40’s over the coming days we were keen to get an early start from Bourke and head for the Macquarie Marshes for the final wetland of the 2015 survey. On our way we passed by Mt Oxley, a 307m mesa rising from the plain. Named after explorer John Oxley it has Aboriginal significance and is used for communication and tourism purposes.
Mt Oxley near Bourke. Photo: Terry Korn
The dryland country between Bourke and the Macquarie Marshes has extensive clay pans, some of which are being rehabilitated by a method called “ponding” which captures plant seed and water.
Clay pan rehabilitation south east of Bourke. Photo: Terry Korn
The Marshes enjoyed a 53GL environmental flow up to mid-October which was spread over 72 days, with the aim of getting as much of the water as far downstream as possible. Water could be seen in runners as far north as the property “Bluelight” but it hadn’t spread overland so far downstream. Further upstream water was spread throughout the reed beds and under the red gums, giving them a good drink prior to summer and creating a beautiful wetland habitat. Wading through such wet woodlands is a moving experience when the Marsh is in full bloom. All larger open wetlands such as Loudon’s lagoon and Willancorah had sufficient water to attract pelicans, egret, Ibis and ducks.

A typical wetland in the Macquarie Marshes. Photo: Terry Korn
We did 11 east/ west transects across the Marsh but counted few birds as there was limited water. However, most of the survey transects did not cross the main currently existing open wetlands which is where birds are more likely to be found.
The environmental flow has watered core wetlands only. Photo: Terry Korn
Fed by the Macquarie River, this Ramsar site has struggled since the late 1980’s to retain its status as one of the one of Australia’s most important wetlands because of reduced flows. With the introduction of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan environmental water has been purchased for the from willing sellers. Climate change over coming decades may well exacerbate the situation.
Off-river storages hold little water at present. The Macquarie River is in the trees immediately above the storage. Photo: Terry Korn
The “Marshes” are an interesting complex of dry land and wetlands traditionally used for sheep and cattle grazing as well as cropping. About 12% is owned by the government and set aside as a Nature Reserve. The rest is privately owned. All non-flood country is very dry, crops are being harvested and most off-river irrigation storages hold little water as Burrendong Dam is at 21% capacity.
Typical dry-land in the Macquarie Marshes. Photo: Terry Korn
So after over 200 hours of flying over Eastern Australia the 2015 survey has concluded and another set of valuable data has been collected for analysis and to inform future policy and management.