Adaptation pathways for aquatic plants under climate change:facilitating dispersal and management interventionsMax Finlayson1, Margaret Brock2, Cherie Campbell3, Samantha Capon4, Michelle Casanova5, Adrian Clements1, Patrick Driver6, Max Finlayson5, Ray Froend7, Robert Godfree8, Cassandra James9, Lindsay Vivian8, Jason Nicol10, Daryl Nielsen3, Jane Roberts11, Arnold Van der Valk12, Keith Ward13

1Charles Sturt University, 2Consultant, 3Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre, 4Australian Rivers Institute & Griffith University, 5Royal Botanic Gardens, 6NSW Office of Water & Centre for Ecosystem Science UNSW, 7Edith Cowan University, 8CSIRO, 9James Cook University, 10South Australia Research and Development Centre, 11Consultant, 12Iowa State University, USA, 13Goulburn-Broken CMA.

The wetland plant adaptation problem

•Australia’s water resources are increasingly actively managed through damming and abstraction;•Under anthropogenic climate change wetlands will become either wetter or drier for longer periods •Consequently, the ability of biota with limited dispersal mechanisms to successfully re-colonize when favourable conditions occur will be reduced.

Adaptation pathway working group objectives

1. Construct a listing of wetland and riparian plants from habitats in different parts of Australia2. Confirm and apply the empirical models of life history traits to functional groupings (FGs) of these species under various water regime scenarios for each region 3. Develop response models to projected changes in climate and water regulation

An indicative, wetland plant database, describing traits

that enable them to survive and disperse was developed

Method- Develop a wetland plant database with taxonomy and

traits that enable them to survive and disperse - Plant lists represent wetland environments across

Australia- Water Plant FGs based on life history responses to

hydrological conditions. - FG concept applied to other CC parameters, e.g.

elevated temperature & atmospheric CO2

- Species information is being used to analyse species-specific dispersal, succession under CC and species vulnerability to CC

Products•Database:

• Site data – region, name, latitude longitude, height above sea level, Koppen zone, average rainfall, wettest season, annual minimum temperature, annual maximum temperature, source of data

• Species presence, including subspecies, varieties and forms, with authorities, common names and synonyms according to the Australian Plant Name Index, life-history, whether native or exotic, and references to their ecology

• functional group allocation (WPFG sensu Brock and Casanova 1997, Casanova 2011). Other FGs for salinity, CO2, trophic-level, pH , turbidity, grazing, temperature tolerances

•Developing empirical model for assessing successional change

Some papers in prep.

•Casanova et al - characterization of life history traits of wetland plants and their geographic distribution and dispersal in relation to climate and landscape features. •Nielsen et al - projected dispersal of functional groups of wetland plants in response to flow and climate variables. •Van der Valk et al - successional changes in wetland plants given changes in flows and climate variables, using worked examples.

FGs and plant dispersal models used to guide

• environmental water planning and management and CC adaptation,

•wetland restoration and management of wetlands and spread of invasive species.

• Future data collection and modelling by researchers to aid these management actions