A Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) funded research project is proving that water for the environment is an essential component in supporting the resilience of platypus populations in the northern Murray-Darling Basin, especially during drought conditions.
The project is monitoring platypus populations in parts of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales to assess the condition and health of platypuses. Researchers are working with the CEWH to help improve the delivery and timing of water for the environment within rivers and catchments to support these unique mammals and their freshwater environment.
University of New South Wales (UNSW) Lead Researcher Associate Professor Gilad Bino said the five-year project, which began in 2023, has already shown that platypuses have been confirmed to persist across several rivers.
"Our monitoring is conducted at specific locations on four rivers - the Peel, Gwydir, Severn and Dumaresq Rivers. The monitoring sites are downstream from four major dams including the Chaffey, Copeton, Pindari and Glenlyon dams to assess the impact of water releases.
"Across the full study period, 25 individual platypuses have been captured, providing new demographic information on sex ratios, age classes and body condition in northern Basin populations.
"Most individuals captured during surveys have been in good body condition, suggesting some regulated river reaches continue to support viable platypus habitat," he said.
The CEWH, Dr Simon Banks, who is attending the CEWH science program Northern Basin Forum in Dubbo on 24 March, said he was pleased with the outcomes so far from the platypus research project.
"It's vital that we evaluate how platypus populations are tracking and further understand the impacts of dams, river management and how we can improve the use of environmental flows to protect their habitat and the long-term survival of platypus.
"The research we conduct is vital but so is the community engagement conducted to achieve scientific results. Associate Professor Bino and his team have collaborated with local communities, landholders and conservation groups, improving access to rivers and building long-term partnerships for platypus conservation monitoring," he said.
Dr Banks will join a number of scientists, water managers and First Nations partners who work within the CEWH's science program Flow-MER (monitoring, evaluation and research) for a two-day forum.
The Northern Basin Forum will cover a variety of topics including Flow-MER Project updates from the Macquarie River and Marshes; Lower Balonne; Border, Barwon and Namoi; Gwydir; and the Darling and Warrego areas.
Dr Banks said last year marked an important CEWH science milestone - 10 years of the Flow-MER Program.
"The Program harnesses the best science and knowledge to measure the success of environmental watering. It helps to demonstrate outcomes, what we've achieved and what we could do next time to get the best results for the rivers, wetlands, plants and animals of the Basin.
"I'm very proud of the work done in the past decade and look forward to the forum in Dubbo to hear more about science outcomes specific to the northern Basin," he said.
