provide multiple opportunities for successful waterbird breeding within the range of their life expectancy. The proposed flow indicators are consistent with this rationale. It is recognised that periods between inundation events are an important consideration when trying to determine ecosystem resilience or thresholds of irreversible change. When investigating the environmental water requirements for the various sites, consideration was given to specifying a maximum period between events or metrics related to maximum dry. However, the literature regarding the tolerance of various floodplain ecosystems to dry periods is limited. In addition where this information exists, recommended maximum dry intervals often conflicts with the maximum dry experienced under modelled without development conditions. Considering these issues, MDBA has not proposed a maximum dry period with the exception of a small number of sites across the Basin, which does not include Booligal Wetlands. Even so, the importance of maximum dry periods and their role in maintaining ecosystem resilience is recognised. Maximum dry periods between successful events is reported for hydrological modelling associated with the Booligal Wetlands indicator site (see MDBA 2012) despite reducing the maximum period between events not being the primary objective of the modelling process.
provide multiple opportunities for successful waterbird breeding within the range of their life expectancy. The proposed flow indicators are consistent with this rationale. It is recognised that periods between inundation events are an important consideration when trying to determine ecosystem resilience or thresholds of irreversible change. When investigating the environmental water requirements for the various sites, consideration was given to specifying a maximum period between events or metrics related to maximum dry. However, the literature regarding the tolerance of various floodplain ecosystems to dry periods is limited. In addition where this information exists, recommended maximum dry intervals often conflicts with the maximum dry experienced under modelled without development conditions. Considering these issues, MDBA has not proposed a maximum dry period with the exception of a small number of sites across the Basin, which does not include Booligal Wetlands. Even so, the importance of maximum dry periods and their role in maintaining ecosystem resilience is recognised. Maximum dry periods between successful events is reported for hydrological modelling associated with the Booligal Wetlands indicator site (see MDBA 2012) despite reducing the maximum period between events not being the primary objective of the modelling process.
EWR-Booligal-Wetlands.docx