Ecological monitoring
Monitoring is a critical component of ecosystem management, as it informs whether objectives are being meet and can provide information that will guide adaptive management. WRT has been involved in some long-term ecological monitoring programmes, including;
“WRT are particularly attuned to the extraordinary resilience of wetland species, resilience derived from adaptations of those species to natural fluxes of wetting and drying over evolutionary timeframes.”
Examples of ecological monitoring carried out by WRT Ecological Consulting include:
Colonial nesting wetland bird monitoring, Kerang Wetlands Ramsar Site 2019, 2020 and 2021
Client: North Central Catchment Management Authority
Surveillance and reporting on the presence and abundance of colonial nesting wetland birds in the Kerang Wetlands Ramsar Site as part of a monitoring program to ensure that the site is not exceeding its limit of acceptable change
Curlew Sandpiper and other shorebird monitoring, Kerang Wetlands Ramsar Site2019, 2020 and 2021
Client: North Central Catchment Management Authority
Surveillance and reporting on the presence and abundance of Curlew Sandpiper and other shorebirds in the Kerang Wetlands Ramsar Site as part of a monitoring program to ensure that the site is not exceeding its limit of acceptable change
Ecological response of four wetlands to artificial and natural watering: 2008-2022
Client: Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority
Monitoring the ecological response of birds, frogs and vegetation in four wetlands to artificial and natural watering over an eight-year period to assess the effectiveness of environmental watering
Ecological monitoring in the Kerang Wetlands Ramsar site 2017 to 2018
Client: North Central Catchment Management Authority
Vegetation condition, diversity and cover monitoring and fauna monitoring at the 23 wetlands that make up the Kerang Wetlands Ramsar site. This monitoring informed management actions taken to maintain and in some cases improve the condition of the wetlands.
Establishment of monitoring plots to determine the effect of excluding grazing on rare woodland vegetation on Spur Island 2016
Client: North Central Catchment Management Authority
Damien Cook worked with Barapa Barapa Elder Uncle Duck Charles to set up monitoring plots to determine the effect of excluding grazing on rare woodland vegetation on Spur Island