The karst rising-springs (KRS) around Port MacDonnell represent an important but threatened ecosystem supporting a diverse range of flora and fauna, including the nationally endangered Glenelg Spiny Freshwater Crayfish Euastacus bispinosus and the nationally vulnerable Variegated Pygmy Perch Nannoperca variegata. In South Australia, Glenelg Spiny...
A large crowd of about 55 community members packed out the Port MacDonnell Community Complex last Thursday evening, the 26th May, to learn about our region’s unique Karst Rising Springs (KRS).Speakers Mark Bachmann and Nick Whiterod tag-teamed to first present the history, background, and current challenges...
The lower South East coast is home to a unique type of wetland called Karst Rising Springs. These environments are spring-fed wetlands and are found close to the coast from the Victorian border to near Bray (SE of Robe). Spring-fed wetlands or Karst Rising Springs (KRS)...
Two scientific papers featuring our research on Glenelg Spiny Crayfish have recently been accepted for publication. The papers highlight the concerning status of the South Australian population of the species and provide a sound basis to conservation. Details of the papers are (note: links to pdfs...
The preliminary outcomes of our spiny crayfish genetics project (funded by Friends of Mt Gambier Area Parks and Norman Wettenhall Foundation) have recently been published (a copy of the paper is attached here). The main focus of the paper was to document genetic markers that will...
Earlier tonight I made the journey into the Mount to give a talk on the history of the Piccaninnie Ponds wetlands, including the more recent story of the restoration of the Ponds and Pick Swamp. It was also great to hear about regional groundwater and...
One of the charitable goals of the RE Ross Trust is to invest in the preservation of Australian flora and fauna - and one way it chooses to do so, is by providing funds to the Norman Wettenhall Foundation to run a Small Environmental Grants...
I recently gave a presentation entitled 'Pricklybacks on the brink: an updated assessment of Glenelg Spiny Crayfish within rising-spring habitats of the south east of South Australia' at the 51st Australian Society for Limnology (ASL) conference in Armidale. It was a great opportunity to highlight the plight of the...
Oisín and I had the tough task of spending the weekend traversing the Grampians National Park surveying Glenelg Spiny Crayfish as part of our genetics project. We came, we saw and we collected samples from several populations and now have good spatial coverage across the...
[caption id="attachment_755" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sampling on Crawford River[/caption] Oisín Sweeney (South Australian DEWNR), Lauren and myself have recently had a great time sampling Glenelg Spiny Crayfish across SW Victoria. The highlight was our (almost, 5am!) all nighter on the Crawford River where good catches were observed...
