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RIVER RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS

River Res. Applic. 21: 257269 (2005)


Published online in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/rra.845

ACCESSING LIMNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND VARIABILITY USING


FOSSIL DIATOM ASSEMBLAGES, SOUTH-EAST AUSTRALIA
P. GELL,a* J. TIBBY,a J. FLUIN,a P. LEAHY,b M. REID,c K. ADAMSON,b S. BULPIN,a
A. MacGREGOR,a P. WALLBRINK,d G. HANCOCKd and B. WALSHa
a
b

Geographical & Environmental Studies, The University of Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia
School of Geography & Environmental Science, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
c
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, PO Box 8602, Christchurch, New Zealand
d
CSIRO Land & Water, PO Box 1666, ACT 2601, Australia

ABSTRACT
Floodplain wetlands accumulate river-borne sediments that include mixed assemblages of allochthonous and autochthonous
diatoms as fossils. These assemblages have been used in river oodplain wetlands and reservoirs to quantitatively reconstruct
salinity, pH and nutrients and to qualitatively infer connectivity and turbidity over periods spanning decades to millennia. High
sedimentation rates in some sites have permitted sub-annual temporal resolution; however, annual to decadal resolution is more
usual. The establishment of chronologies for these sequences is often difcult owing to the substantial input of uvially
borne 210Pb, the high spatial variability in the earliest detection of exotic pollen markers and the inaccuracy of radiocarbon
approaches in dating sediments younger than 500 years. Other complexities arise from the difculty of differentiating the inuence of co-variables in accord with the river continuum concept and identifying shifts driven by hydroseral inuences independent of changes to the uvial system. Caution is also needed in inferring lotic change from a record accumulating in lentic
systems.
Nevertheless, substantial increases in salinity (lower Snowy, lower and middle Murray), pH (mid-Goulburn), turbidity (upper
and lower Murray and Yarra), nutrients (lower Murray and Yarra), and sedimentation rate (widespread), as well as clear shifts in
trophic structure (upper Murray), have been documented for the post-European period from regulated river wetlands across
southeast Australia. A site in the lower Murray records river connectivity and water quality changes consistent with the regional
Holocene climate record. Reductions in effective precipitation documented in closed lake systems are not evident in riverine
plain wetlands, possibly owing to their relative complexity. The renement of chronologies and data-bases will allow the determination of the pre-impact nature and variability of sites, the rates of limnological change and biological responses and the
feasibility of rehabilitation targets. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
key words: diatoms; salinity; nutrients; pH; palaeolimnology; climate change

INTRODUCTION
The geomorphic evolution of a lowland river and its oodplain allows for the formation, and ultimate abandonment, of river meanders as cutoffs, oxbow lakes or billabongs. Once abandoned, these wetlands accumulate sediments that contain microfossils of autochthonous and allochthonous origin. Along with terminal lakes, these
sediment sequences can be examined to reconstruct changes to the wetlands revealed by the fossil biota. Given
the interaction between the main river and its oodplain wetlands, these sequences can also be used to reveal
changes to the nature and variability of river water quality and ow.
One of the most useful indicator groups used to reveal palaeolimnological change is diatoms (Dixit et al., 1992).
They have been extensively used to examine change in lentic systems (Smol, 2002) and are now increasingly used
to examine changes to river systems (e.g. Thoms et al., 1999; Reid et al., 2002; Hall et al., 2003). In Australia,
where river ow and water quality are highly variable (Finlayson and MacMahon, 1988), the intermittent nature of
* Correspondence to: Peter Gell, Geographical and Environmental Studies, The University of Adelaide, South Australia.
E-mail: peter.gell@adelaide.edu.au

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Accepted 21 July 2004

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riverine wetlands and extremes of salinity and alkalinity limit the availability of suitable records of fossil diatoms.
Even so, several studies of diatom-rich sediment sequences are providing clear evidence for changing limnological
conditions and variability in uvial systems.

CHRONOLOGY AND RESOLUTION OF SEDIMENT SEQUENCES


The establishment of a time line is critical in generating a palaeoecological record of wetland change. The chronology of long-term changes can be established through radiocarbon dating. In lower Murray River systems, however,
even Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon (14C) dating has proven problematic. For example, core 3
from Lake Alexandrina (Figure 1) returned similar AMS dates for three different depths6644  76 years before
present (yr bp), (4042 cm), 6499  69 yr bp (6567 cm) and 6765  76 yr bp (8385 cm) (Figure 2)although the
longer core 2 record provides a coherent series of 14C ages (Figure 3). Similarly, AMS 14C dating of the sediments
from a 14-m core from Muroondi Wetland (see Figure 4) returned ages of 3993  42 yr bp (405410 cm),
4627  63 yr bp (790800 cm) and 4284  64 yr bp (13901400 cm). Also a suite of AMS 14C ages taken from a
4.4-m core from Tareena Billabong provided similarly questionable ages (Figure 5). In all cases rapid sediment
deposition does not provide an explanation, since the diatom stratigraphies in these sites exhibit sharp changes.
It is possible that the hard water effectinclusion of older carbon from carbonate-rich groundwatersis confounding the measured carbon activities. However, AMS 14C dates on pollen (sensu Brown et al., 1992), that, being
of largely terrestrial origin, are thought to avoid this problem, have also shown chronological anomalies. At Hopcrofts Billabong an AMS date on pollen preparations returned an age of 1385  44 yr bp at 121123 cm
(Wk-12580), while the basal sediments (237.5240 cm) returned a younger age of 984  57 yr bp (Wk-10007).
The incorporation of pollen from aquatic plants (which can uptake old dissolved carbon) does not provide an
explanation for the reversal of dates at Hopcrofts Billabong. Indeed the contribution of aquatic pollen to the

Figure 1. Location of study sites. Also shown is the location of other sites that are the subject of previous or ongoing work by the authors. The
lower Murray is dened here as the section of the river below its conuence with the Darling, the middle Murray as the section between the
Darling and Goulburn conuence and the upper Murray as that section above the Goulburn conuence
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Figure 2. Summary diatom stratigraphy from core 3, Lake Alexandrina. The dashed line at 18 cm represents the approximate timing of
European arrival, derived from extrapolated 210Pb dates and a marked change in the 226Ra stratigraphy that represents a change in sediment
source likely derived from early European soil erosion

Figure 3. Summary diatom stratigraphy from core 2, Lake Alexandrina. Ages shown with error bars are 14C dates, while the 1946 date was
derived from a constant rate of supply 210Pb model. The dashed line indicates the approximate timing of European arrival, dated by extrapolating
210
Pb-derived sedimentation rates

younger basal sample (18% of total pollen) is greater than its contribution to the 120121 cm sample (10% of
total pollen), adjacent to the older date (Adamson, unpublished data). Similarly, introduction of old charcoal does
not appear to be the source of error, as in Blong and Gillespie (1978). In the Hopcrofts Billabong pollen record,
charcoal particles (>5 mm long) can outnumber pollen grains by a factor of 8:1. However, the ratio of charcoal
particles to pollen grains is the same (2.7) in the two depths closest to the 14C sample levels. Certainly the problems
associated with 14C ages obtained thus far (including using different pre-treatment approaches after Odgen et al.,
2001) suggest that comparative analyses need to be performed. Potential renements could utilize luminescencebased techniques and/or focus on AMS 14C dating of (often rare) macrofossils with an unambiguous terrestrial
source (Bjorck et al., 1998). Optically stimulated luminescence dating of sand and clay particles at Tareena
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Figure 4. Summary diatom stratigraphy from Muroondi Wetland, lower Murray River. 137Cs was not detected at 50 cm, indicating the sediments
above this level were deposited after 1958

Figure 5. Summary diatom stratigraphy from Tareena Billabong, lower Murray River. The dashed line marks the approximate timing of
European arrival as determined from increased abundance of pollen from native disturbance plants and Pinus

Billabong, where a consistent series of dates has been obtained, suggests that this technique has great promise
where 14C has proved unreliable.
The dating of changes attributable to industrialized society, particularly those associated with early settlement, is
yet more difcult. Records of change over the last two centuries cannot be based on radiocarbon, which is most
reliable on sediments in excess of 500 years old. Other dating approaches are required such as 210Pb, 137Cs, exotic
pollen markers and luminescence dating supported by corollary evidence such as magnetic susceptibility and
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charcoal data. In many uvial contexts, the supply of non-aerially derived 210Pb invalidates the constant rate of
supply model and impacts upon the capacity of 210Pb techniques to derive sedimentation rates. However, good
210
Pb records are possible in uvial systems. At Willsmere Billabong, on the lower Yarra River (Figure 1), a constant initial concentration 210Pb model is veriable by an independent sediment marker. A layer of white clay
deposited between ad 1972 and 1974 from the construction of a nearby freeway dates to ad 1971 via the 210Pb
chronology.
Caesium-137 in sediments, derived from atomic testing, is limited to identifying sediments laid down after the
late 1950s and, given problems of identifying weapons testing 137Cs peaks in Australia (Tibby, 2003), it is likely
that the rst detectable occurrence of 137Cs may be the only useful dating horizon. Luminescence dating of quartz
can theoretically provide ages for all time periods but given the slow rate of silica matrix degradation, high errors
are expected from samples younger than a few centuries (Prescott, pers. comm.). The timing of the arrival of exotic
pollen types such as Pinus, Plantago lanceolata and Echium into sediment sequences relies on the establishment of
a suite of sites reliably dated with 210Pb. The arrival of Pinus in lake records has been inferred as representing
ad 1850 (Dodson and Mooney, 2002); however, some reliably dated sites have shown Pinus to variously arrive
at c. ad 1900 (Wegener, 1995), ad 1965 (Bickford, 2001) and post-1965 (Gell et al., 1993). A technique developed
by Ogden (1996) to increase the sensitivity of Pinus analysis is being implemented and is likely to lead to more
consistent dates for Pinus arrival.
In several instances therefore, less than secure chronologies rely on the compilation of a range of ages and additional supporting evidence to generate the most likely sedimentation rates. It is wise, however, to be aware that the
misplacement of the pre-/post-European boundary can substantially impact on rate of change calculations and so
inferences of causes of documented change. It is tempting to accept that the greatest changes are driven by
post-European land-use; however, evidence for substantial climate change in the period immediately preceding
settlement in southeast Australia (Jones et al., 2001) suggests care is needed. Despite these difculties, palaeolimnological records can provide invaluable baseline data with which to assess the degree of change even where it is
not possible to document the rate of change.
In many sites where radiocarbon dating is applicable, sedimentation rates are slow. Many southeast Australian
wetlands (e.g. Tareena Billabong, Lakes Curlip and Alexandrina) have accumulated sediments at a rate in the order
of 1 mm/year. Sampling such sediments provides evidence of limnological change integrated over more than 510
years. If the samples taken from such cores are not contiguous, then a century of evidence may easily be overlooked between samples. These sites provide evidence for broad-scale changes to wetlands and oodplains in
response to longer term, usually climate-related changes. Here, inter-annual variability cannot be readily accessed;
however, it may more readily permit identication of trends in systems that are inherently noisy.
Typically, the sedimentation rates of post-European sequences are much greater and so provide opportunities to
sample at considerably greater resolution. In many instances the post-European sections from natural oodplain
wetlands have been laid down at rates of 510 mm/year. At Tareena Billabong the post-European sequence appears
to begin at 1.5 m (Bulpin et al., unpublished), with only the last 1520 cm deposited after the 1950s. At Willsmere
Billabong the sedimentation rate is permitting the marking of specic events. In such cases ne resolution, contiguous sampling allows access to inter-annual variability.
Sediment sequences retained behind human structures such as dams have accumulated even more rapidly.
Kangaroo Creek Reservoir on the River Torrens, South Australia, was commissioned in 1969. Sediments sampled
from the tarmac of a bridge, exposed in 2000 when the reservoir level was lowered for maintenance, were 45 cm
deep. This represents a mean sedimentation rate, of only the seston, of 14.5 mm/year. Radiometric analyses
suggest that a separate 1.3 m core, taken from the bottom sediments of the reservoir, spans the last c. 20 years.
Sedimentation rates in excess of 60 mm/year such as these allow access to inter-annual, as well as intra-annual,
variability over more recent time spans.
DIATOMWATER CHEMISTRY TRANSFER FUNCTIONS
Diatom-based transfer functions are training sets of diatom assemblages and water chemistry data calibrated using
techniques such as weighted averaging or articial neural networks (Birks, 1998). These are designed to infer past
values for water quality parameters from fossil diatom assemblages that have accumulated in sediment sequences.
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Figure 6. (A) Diatom-inferred versus measured conductivity in Murray River phytoplankton samples derived by leave-one-out resampling. (B)
Diatom-inferred versus measured pH in 120 southeast Australian wetlands derived by leave-one-out resampling

The strength of the transfer function is determined through the use of randomization tests, such as jack-kning, that
removes one sample and predicts a value from the optima of diatom taxa in the excluded sample based on the
remaining samples. The correlation coefcient of the plot of measured versus predicted water quality, and the root
mean squared error of prediction (RMSEP), is indicative of the capacity of the transfer function to reconstruct past
water quality.
Tibby and Reid (2004) have recently demonstrated that diatom transfer functions can be derived from river diatoms. The re-analysis of Murray River diatoms in archived phytoplankton samples (collected in 199192, n 90)
showed a strong relationship between the measured, and diatom-predicted, water conductivity. The strength of the
relationship was tested using jack-kning (Figure 6A). The correlation coefcient of the measured versus predicted
conductivity is high (r2jack 0.71; RMSEP 115 mS/cm) relative to other transfer functions that are derived from
data sets with broader conductivity gradients. Other tested parameters show a weaker relationship (e.g. velocity
r2jack 0.53) and so conductivity appears to be exerting the greatest inuence on the diatom assemblages. The
strength of this small data set is highly promising given the considerable capacity for expansion with samples
and chemistry data collected over more than 20 years.
Other transfer functions established in Australia include those on:
1. salinity in lakes (Gell, 1997);
2. pH in oodplain lakes and reservoirs (Tibby et al., 2003; Figure 6B);
3. nutrients (Gell et al., 1999; Tibby, 2004).
The choice of which transfer functions are most appropriately applied is an important one. In many cases, the
responses of particular diatom taxa in cores make the choice obvious. However, simple measures such as examining whether ordination scores of fossil diatom data (representing the major direction of variance in the biological
data) are correlated to the reconstruction provide additional condence.

EVIDENCE FOR LONG-TERM CHANGE


Murray River
Lake Alexandrina, at the mouth of the Murray River, plays a critical role in both contemporary and palaeolimnological understanding of the MurrayDarling Basin, as the river, upon entry to the lake, represents an accumulation of all upstream processes. The fossil diatoms from three sediment cores have been analysed from Lake
Alexandrina (Fluin, 2002), each core representing different phases in lake maturation and development. Core 2
extracted from the centre of the Lake and core 3, from the northern embayment where the Murray River debouches
into the system, are discussed herein (Figures 2 and 3). Shifts in littoral and planktonic diatom taxa for these
cores suggest change in the abundance of aquatic vegetation, both in the littoral and submerged zones. This is
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particularly evident in core 3 where the increase in relative abundance of Cocconeis placentula, Cymbella cistula
and Melosira varians suggests a substantial increase in aquatic vegetation cover in the post-European
settlement period.
The Lake Alexandrina diatom records clearly show that the lake (and most likely the river) has been eutrophic
for at least the past 7000 years (the age of the oldest sediments). There is no indication that the lake has ever been
oligotrophic or mesotrophic.
Lake Alexandrina core 3 (Figure 3) shows an increase in electrical conductivity (EC) between approximately
ad 1850 and 1930 (as evidenced by increases in the more salt-tolerant taxa Tabularia fasciculata and Rhopalodia
gibba), becoming less obvious post-river regulation. Apart from this, there is no major evidence to show any major
uctuations in EC in the region of core 3, particularly from marine incursion. There is stronger evidence for
dynamic EC levels in core 2, with regular increases in estuarine diatom taxa (such as Trybionella compressa, Tryblionella hungarica, Paralia sulcata, and Campylodiscus clypeus) throughout the past 7000 years, but particularly
between 1000 and 2000 yr bp (Figure 3).
Muroondi Wetland is a shallow, eutrophic wetland dominated by Phragmites australis and Typha domingensis.
The palaeolimnological record from a 14 m core (Figure 4) reveals a shift from open water conditions to organicrich silts at 8 m reective of swamp conditions. The initial diatom assemblage was dominated by river plankton,
mostly Aulacoseira granulata, but at 8.5 m there is a relative increase in littoral species. Littoral taxa increase
further at 4 m whereupon the plankton represented less than 10% of the fossil assemblage. Although not securely
dated, the diatom history provides a record of natural hydroseral evolution of the wetland through time. In addition,
the site has clearly had a variable nutrient regime (with, for example, shifts in plankton from eutrophic A. granulata/Cyclotella meneghiniana dominated assemblages to periods of dominance by the oligo-mesotrophic Cyclotella stelligera) providing an interesting contrast to the inferred stable nutrient regime from Lake Alexandrina.
Peaks of C. meneghiniana in the most recent sediments are likely to represent land-use-related eutrophication.
The renement of the chronology of this record will provide evidence for the lifespan of Lower Murray billabongs
and the timing of recent changes.
Tareena Billabong is a wetland within the lower Murray River oodplain that receives oodwaters via a distributary, Salt Creek. Luminescence dating of basal sands (5400  370, AdGL03003) supports radiocarbon evidence
that the wetland began accumulating sediments approximately 5000 yr bp. Fossil diatoms accumulated in the
record (Figure 5) reveal considerable changes through the pre-European period.
High levels of the freshwater diatom taxa Planothidium lanceolatum and Synedra ulna, the former being an
epiphyte occurring on oating macrophytes (such as Lemna spp. and Azolla spp.) infers that the billabong was
a fresh, permanent lagoon, with reliable water levels early in its existence (Figure 5). The low proportion of riverine diatoms (e.g. Aulacoseira spp.) suggests that this was maintained largely independent of the river. From the
period represented by 350 cm to 300 cm, high values of Aulacoseira spp. suggest input from the Murray River
beginning, assuming a steady sedimentation rate, at about 3500 yr bp. However, this is coupled with abundant
brackish water taxa (Gyrosigma acuminatum and Tryblionella hungarica) and the aerophilous taxon Diadesmis
confervacea, suggesting that phases of input from the river were coupled with phases of shallow, brackish water
conditions.
From 300 cm to 100 cm it appears that the Billabong was subjected to a decline in connectivity to the river,
indicated by the replacement of Aulacoseira spp. with Staurosira spp. and Staurosirella pinnata. These taxa are
found in local lakes that are moderately turbid and are maintained at 23 m depth (Gell et al., 2002). The appearance of these taxa at 300 cm may reect a return to stable water levels and a lack of wetting and drying producing a
turbid wetland.
Hopcrofts Billabong lies adjacent to the Murray River, just downstream of its conuence with the Murrumbidgee River. The lower part of the record has similar mixed Staurosira and Staurosirella dominated assemblages to
those observed in Tareena Billabong, indicative of turbid conditions, with relatively little connection to the river.
The upper half of the core is dominated by the planktonic diatom Aulacoseira granulata, where it clearly occurs in
the pre-European sediments. The association between the shift to Aulacoseira granulata at 120 cm, and increases
in the proportion of sand-sized particles (Figure 7), provides strong support for the link made between the abundance of Aulacoseira granulata in billabong sediments and connection to the Murray River (e.g. Gell et al., 2002;
Reid et al., 2002).
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Figure 7. Dominant diatom and pollen taxa from Hopcrofts Billabong sediment core. The aquatic pollen curve is predominantly made up of
grains from Myriophyllum and Triglochin. Also shown is the proportion of sediment, sand-sized or greater. Exotic pollen occurs above the dotted
line, but note that sustained declines in Callitris and aquatic pollen, which are attributable to European land practices, occur below this level

Aulacoseira granulata is the most commonly occurring phytoplankter in the Murray River at present between
Albury and Lock 9 (Hotzel and Croome, 1996) and is the most abundant taxon at most sites. Its dominance in preEuropean samples here, at Muroondi Wetland and, to a lesser extent, Tareena Billabong, contrasts markedly with
ndings from well connected billabongs on the upper Murray River (including Hogans Billabong and Billabong
38, see Figure 1) where it is only since the introduction of a regulated regime that it has come to dominate (Reid
et al., 2002). These ndings suggest that the pre-European (and pre-regulation) plankton ora in the river exhibited
a much greater spatial variability than that observed at present.
Snowy River
Diatom-based palaeolimnological techniques have also been applied to Lake Curlip to reveal the long-term evolution of the Snowy River and its oodplain wetlands (MacGregor, 2001; MacGregor et al., 2005). A basal date of
6960  58 yr bp at 195 cm shows that the lake began accumulating sediments at around the establishment of present sea levels. The lower sediments were dominated by marine littoral diatom species suggesting open estuarine
conditions. The diatom-inferred salinity shows a shift to oligosaline conditions, particularly after c. 2200 yr bp,
presumably due to the closure of the estuary by the barrier dune and the dominance of Brodribb and Snowy River
freshwaters. The lake continued to freshen up to European contact.
POST-EUROPEAN LIMNOLOGICAL CHANGE
Murray River
At Tareena and Hopcrofts Billabongs, the diatom records share features with those from the upper Murray River
where the European period is characterized by higher proportions of planktonic taxa than the pre-European.
Similar to conclusions drawn for the upper Murray River (Odgen, 2000; Reid et al., 2002), we interpret this shift
as indicating reductions in the abundance of submerged macrophytes in the billabong. This interpretation is supported for the Tareena Billabong record by historical observation of macrophyte decline while at Hopcrofts
Billabong aquatic pollen data support this hypothesis. Such validation is important since using relative abundance
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data, inferred macrophyte decline can be confounded by increases in the absolute abundance of planktonic diatoms
without any change in macrophytes. The major change in the diatom assemblages in the Tareena Billabong record,
evident from the CONISS dendrogram, occurs at 100 cm (Figure 5). Here, there is an abrupt shift to diatom taxa
tolerant of brackish (Amphora veneta, Campylodiscus clypeus, Epithemia adnata, Gyrosigma acuminatum, Tryblionella hungarica) and even saline (Amphora coffeaeformis, Chaetoceros muelleri) conditions. The presently
preferred chronology for the upper sediments places this change at c. ad 1880 suggesting that salinization in
the lower Murray River oodplain appeared early in the history of European settlement.
Lower Snowy River salinity
The record of Lake Curlip also reveals the magnitude and timing of the impact of European settlement (for
detailed record see MacGregor et al., 2005). European settlement in the catchment began in 1847 whereupon there
was considerable land clearance and drain construction on the lower oodplain. River regulation from the Snowy
Mountains inter-basin water transfer scheme rst impacted on the system in the 1950s and its full impact was
established in the 1960s. The post-1958 shift towards saline and nutrient-rich conditions (revealed by Amphora
coffeaeformis, Cyclotella meneghiniana and Fallacia tenera) suggests a substantial impact from European settlement and river regulation. The diatom-inferred salinity derived from the transfer function of Gell (1997) shows that
this constitutes an initial ten-fold increase in salinity, followed by an additional four-fold increase after the 1950s.
Lower Yarra River nutrients
The diatom assemblage from Willsmere Billabong, on the lower Yarra River, provides a well-dated record of
European arrival and impact on a southeast Australian wetland. A chronology has been developed via an independently veriable 210Pb prole (see chronology and resolution sections), supported by pollen and historical evidence.
Pre-contact diatom assemblages are dominated by the planktonic diatom oligo-mesotrophic diatom Cyclotella
stelligera (Figure 8). An increase in the pollen of the native disturbance indicator taxon Rumex and a change in a
number of sediment characteristics suggests that the pre- and post-contact boundary is at 226 cm. A rapid decline

Figure 8. Willsmere Billabong diatom record


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in C. stelligera is apparent and an increase in a number of aerophilous taxa is apparent from this level. The section
from 170 to 45 cm is characterized by higher sedimentation rates and an increase in epipelic diatoms. The uppermost sediments are characterized by increases in a large number of highly nutrient-tolerant diatom taxa. The most
substantial changes in the Willsmere record appear to happen in the latter half of the 20th century, with an increase
in several nutrient-tolerant diatom taxa. A diatom-inferred total phosphorus (DI-TP) transfer function has been
developed for Yarra billabongs (Leahy, unpublished). The DI-TP model is based on monthly samples (n 54) from
Devon, Henley, Bolin and Willsmere Billabongs (see Figure 1 for locations) and performs relatively well, with an
r2 of 0.77 and a RMSEP of 0.31 ln mg/l TP. DI-TP prior to European contact was always greater than 120 mg/l and
shows a small decline following European arrival. DI-TP remains below 100 mg/l until it gradually begins increasing from the 1920s onwards. DI-TP increased rapidly to over 500 mg/l following construction of a nearby freeway
and the diversion of urban storm water into the Billabong in the 1970s.
Lower Goulburn River pH
Like other catchments in Victoria, monitoring of the Goulburn River has revealed signicant declines in pH
values (Smith and Nathan, 2000), prompting enquiries as to the natural variability of pH in these systems.
The temporal context can be provided by palaeolimnological studies from oodplain lakes such as the Callemondah Billabongs near Yea. Using a diatom record derived by Reid (2002; Callemondah 1 Billabong), Tibby et al.
(2003) applied a diatom-inferred pH (DI-pH) transfer function to reconstruct Billabong pH over time from
c. 3500 yr bp to present (Figure 9). DI-pH increases from a very stable, pre-European range of 6.56.7 to sustained
values in excess of 7.0. This is supported by the arrival of the alkaliphilous taxon Cocconeis placentula into the
record. The late divergence in apparent pH values between the Billabong and the main river may have resulted
from the river readjusting after an early phase of erosional input of base cations or may be the result of decreased
connectivity between the two, associated with river regulation.

Figure 9. Summary diatom record and diatom-inferred pH reconstruction of Callemondah Billabong. Values in parentheses after taxon names
are pH optima (Tibby et al., 2003). Exotic pollen occurs above the dashed line
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Table I. Diatom-inferred post-European water quality changes in Australian lowland river wetlands
Site (catchment)
Lake Alexandrina* (Murray River)
Muroondi Wetland
Tareena Billabong (Murray River)
Hopcrofts Billabong (Murray River)
Callemondah 1 Billabong (Goulburn River)
Lake Curlip (Snowy River)
Willsmere Billabong (Yarra River)

Conductivity

pH

Plant nutrients

Submerged aquatic
macrophytes

~
NDC
~
NDC
NDC
~
NDC

NDC
NDC
~
NDC
~
! then ~
~

~
~
~
NDC
~
~
~ (particularly post-1970)

~
NDC
!
!
NDC
NDC
!

NDC no detectable change. Parameters in bold are those which have been quantitatively reconstructed.
*Data for Lake Alexandrina taken from core 3, which has the highest resolution of the three diatom records from the lake. Arrows show direction of change; lled arrows are changes that have been quantitatively reconstructed.

Increased billabong pH following European settlement is also observed at several sites including Hogans Billabong and Billabong 38 on the upper Murray (Reid et al., 2002; Figure 1), Tareena Billabong and Junction Park
Billabong in the middle Murray (though at Tareena, this may be strongly inuenced by increases in salinity), in
Lake Alexandrina at the Murray River mouth and at Bolin and Willsmere Billabongs in the Yarra catchment. At the
majority of these sites, this increase occurred soon after the rst evidence of European arrival.

PAST VARIABILITY IN RIVER CONDITIONS


Many of the oodplain wetlands of southeastern Australia have shown considerable variability over the longer
term. This is attributable to a range of natural phenomena including geomorphic evolution following the stabilization of sea levels in lowland systems, hydroseral evolution and changing hydrological regimes arising from millennial scale climate changes. Others, however (e.g. Callemondah 1 Billabong), have shown remarkable stability
over thousands of years although ner resolution sampling may yet reveal greater variability within a trajectory of
little trend.
Australian climates do not provide the climatic conditions to generate varved sediments that would enable the
analysis of intra-annual changes. Additionally, few sediment sequences have been sampled nely enough to reveal
true inter-annual variability in the pre-European period. Diatom sequences from the post-European period show
substantial changes in salinity, pH, nutrients and sedimentation rates (Table I), in some instances beginning soon
after European settlement. The greater resolution of these sequences provides easier access to inter-annual, and
even intra-annual, variability. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in some situations the imposition of European land use has
led to substantial increases in variability, as measured by diatom compositional change (e.g. at Willsmere
Billabong on the Yarra River, Tareena Billabong on the Murray River and the Callemondah Billabongs on the
Yarra). In other localities (e.g. upper Murray billabongs; Reid et al., 2002) species variability has apparently
decreased, most likely because of the imposition of a regulated regime.

CONCLUSIONS
In many lowland river systems, important impacts on rivers and their associated wetlands occurred in the distant
past. The contribution of these impacts to aquatic ecosystem degradation is difcult to determine with modern
process studies where major driving forces (e.g. agricultural land use, river regulation, introduction of exotic species) are spatially confounded. Since many of these events occurred at distinctly different times, palaeolimnology
provides an opportunity to determine their relative effect.
The long-term sedimentary studies conducted in southeast Australia to date have revealed the response of wetlands to geomorphic and climatic change and variability at an inter-annual scale. Studies comparing the preEuropean baseline condition to the histories driven, at least in part, by European land use changes have revealed
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P. GELL ET AL.

substantial shifts in diatom assemblages, many of which reveal quantiable changes in sedimentation rates, salinity
and water pH. Most often these appear to have changed abruptly, and in some instances, very early in the settlement period.
Reconstruction of continuous histories of wetlands in the riparian zone, and the rivers themselves, requires:
(a) a greater focus on taphonomic research to reveal the source of the diatoms accumulating as fossils in the
sediment sequences;
(b) ongoing generation and more widespread use of innovative chronological approaches to address the temporal
blind spot at European contact;
(c) diatom palaeolimnologists to increasingly test their inferences against measured parameters from the longer
data sets.
Lastly, there is a greater need to explore variability at ne resolution, not merely in the impacted period, but in the
pre-European to assess the breadth of experiences of our riverine systems in the past.
It is clear from our analyses to date that there is considerable spatial variability, both in the nature of preEuropean conditions in systems like the Murray and in the responsiveness of individual sites to climate and
European impact. The latter provide valuable information for those charged with rehabilitating wetlands. Whilst
it is apparent that some general patterns emerge in wetland response to European modication to lowland rivers, it
is also clear that localized land uses and ecosystem responses are also important. In this context, while it is unlikely
that anything other than marginal change will occur in the regulated regime of systems such as the Murray River,
localized on ground works may make a substantial difference.
The wetland histories derived to date provide digestible report cards for managers and, therefore, constitute one
means of addressing the call of Walker (2003). With knowledge of the pathway to the present state of an aquatic
system, managers are greatly enabled. They are enabled to, in tangible catchment terms, comprehend the magnitude of the uxes in sediments and solutes and they are enabled to critically assess whether targets set for rehabilitation are achievable. They are also enabled, by monitoring the response of their water body to management
measures, to evaluate their performance along the same pathway back to health.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported by Australian Post-graduate Awards to S.B., J.F., P.G., P.L., A.M. and M.R., Adelaide
University Small Grants to P.G. and Strategic Monash University Research Fund Grants to Peter Kershaw. The
dating support of AINSE grant 01/085 is acknowledged. Gary Swinton and Chris Crothers drafted Figure 1.

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