Does flow determine freshwater fish spawning in the Murray River, Australia? Implications for environmental flow management (#189)
Species-specific,
flow-biotic relationships are increasingly being used to determine environmental flow needs in
flow-degraded river systems. However, describing these relationships can be
challenging, as other environmental variables may also influence biotic outcomes
from environmental flows. This study evaluated the relationships between a range of environmental covariates and spawning
intensity of an assemblage of fish using a ten-year
dataset in the mid-Murray River, Australia. Our hierarchical multi-species model, that
incorporated factors accounting for imperfect sampling detection, demonstrated
that temperature was an important predictor of spawning intensity for all seven
species studied, while both concurrent and antecedent flow conditions were
important for a number of native and non-native species. This suggests that both
temperature and flow influence the timing and strength of spawning for many
species. We also compared the relative spawning outcomes across species using
realistic alternative management scenarios; with the aim of optimising spawning
outcomes for native fish, whilst reducing outcomes for non-native fish. This
study highlights the benefits of long-term datasets for determining flow-biotic
relationships, and demonstrates the importance of considering flow and non-flow
factors in managing environmental flows.