title: A Method for Catchment Scale Mapping of Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems to Support Natural Resource Management (Queensland, Australia).
abstract: Immediate and foreseeable threats to groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) are widely acknowledged, many linked to altered groundwater regimes including changes in groundwater flow, flux, pressure, level and/or quality (Eamus et al. in Aust J Bot 54:97-114, 2006a). Natural resource managers and other decision-makers often lack sufficient information at an appropriate scale to understand the groundwater dependency of ecosystems and ensure that GDEs are adequately considered in decision-making processes. This paper describes a new catchment scale mapping method for GDEs based on the integration of local expert knowledge with detailed spatial datasets to delineate GDEs at a scale compatible with management and planning activities. This overcomes one of the key criticisms often levelled at broader scale mapping methods-that information from local and regional experts, with significant understanding of landscape processes and ecosystems, is not incorporated into the datasets used by decision-makers. Expert knowledge is conveyed in the form of pictorial conceptual models representing the components, processes and interrelationships of groundwater within a catchment and the ecosystems dependent on it. Each mapped GDE is linked to a pictorial conceptual model and a mapping rule-set to provide decision-makers with valuable information about where, how and why GDEs exist in a landscape.
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland Government, 400 George Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia. katharine.glanville@dsiti.qld.gov.au.|Department of Science, Information Technology, and Innovation, Queensland Government, Queensland Herbarium, Mount Coot-tha Road, Toowong, QLD, 4066, Australia. katharine.glanville@dsiti.qld.gov.au.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Glanville
authors.affiliation: Department of Science, Information Technology, and Innovation, Queensland Government, Queensland Herbarium, Mount Coot-tha Road, Toowong, QLD, 4066, Australia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland Government, 400 George Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia.|Department of the Environment, Australian Government, John Gorton Building, King Edward Terrace, Parkes, ACT, 2600, Australia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Science, Information Technology, and Innovation, Queensland Government, Queensland Herbarium, Mount Coot-tha Road, Toowong, QLD, 4066, Australia.|The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Muriuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Queensland Government, 400 George Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ronan
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland Government, 52-64 Currie Street, Nambour, QLD, 4560, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pollett
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D060587:Groundwater; D000067936:Natural Resources; D011793:Queensland; D014872:Water Movements
keywords: Collaborative workshop; Geographic information system; Groundwater dependency; Mapping; Multidisciplinary