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Inland fisheries make substantial contributions to food security and livelihoods locally, regionally, and globally but their conservation and management have been largely overlooked by policy makers. In an effort to remedy this limited recognition, a cross-sectoral community of scientists, practitioners, and policy makers from around the world convened a high-level meeting in 2015 at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations headquarters in Rome, Italy to develop recommendations for sustainable inland fisheries management. This meeting resulted in the production of the Rome Declaration, outlining ten key steps needed to achieve responsible inland fisheries. When the Ten Steps were conceived, they were framed in a global context because inland fisheries around the world face similar challenges, and it was hoped that these large-scale and ambitious steps would draw the attention of regional or international bodies for greater investment in their proper management. Most inland fisheries, however, are managed at a local (often community, watershed, or waterbody) scale with the "on-the-ground" practitioners, managers, assessment biologists, and stewardship officers responsible for achieving the promise of the Ten Steps. Here, we reflect on the relevance of the Ten Steps to practitioners using six regional case studies from around the globe (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa) to identify the extent to which existing efforts align with the Ten Steps and where there are opportunities to do more. Learning what is effective from local/regional actions should better inform a more global "action plan" and provide tangible guidance for implementation recognizing that global guidance needs to be informed by and acted upon by local practitioners. We conclude by considering the common challenges, synergies, and other emergent properties that arise from these case studies, and use these as a path forward to advancing responsible management of inland fisheries through the Rome Declaration. Of particular importance is the need to balance the high-level aspirational goals of the Ten Steps with the local cultural, socio-economic, and institutional realities that ultimately influence how humans interact with fisheries resources and aquatic ecosystems. This assessment provides valuable information on how to refine and implement the Ten Steps recognizing that success will require coordinated efforts among on-the-ground practitioners, scientists, stakeholders, rightsholders and international decision makers. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Genome Canada; Fonds de recherche du Quebec -Nature et Technologies grant from the Government of Quebec, Canada; Danish Rod and Net Fishing License Funds Published version Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada(Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)CGIAR); Genome Canada(Genome Canada); Fonds de recherche du Quebec -Nature et Technologies grant from the Government of Quebec, Canada; Danish Rod and Net Fishing License Funds Public domain – authored by a U.S. government employee

Southeast Asia’s 3S river basin, which comprises the Sesan, Srepok and Sekong rivers, is an important tributary basin of the Mekong River. The 3S rivers rise in Lao PDR and Vietnam, and flow through Cambodia, where they join before discharging to the Mekong. Vietnam has the highest forest loss and the most (46) dams. Lao PDR retains much of its forest, however, 15 hydropower dams are either being built or licensed for construction in its portion of the Sekong river basin. Cambodia is planning multiple dams on each of the three rivers’ lower reaches. Cambodia’s dams will have the greatest impact on system connectivity and thus the 3S’s important migratory fishery. The flow regime of all three rivers has been altered as dam operations have increased dry season flow and reduced wet season flow. Increased Total Suspended Solids, Nitrate\Nitrite and Total Phosphorous have been observed in the Srepok River in Vietnam, whist there has been little change elsewhere. The three countries are at different stages of developing their national water governance frameworks, with Lao PDR the least developed. A range of climate and development scenarios have been generated for the 3S region. The 3S is highly vulnerable to climate change due to projected increases in temperature and the frequency of extreme floods and droughts. As the transboundary impacts of development in the 3S become clearer, so too does the need for cooperative management of the 3S basin and its water resources, to ensure a sustainable future as the climate changes.

Natural ecosystems are fundamental to local water cycles and the water ecosystem services that humans enjoy, such as water provision, outdoor recreation, and flood protection. However, integrating ecosystem services into water resources management requires that they be acknowledged, quantified, and communicated to decision-makers. We present an indicator framework that incorporates the supply of, and demand for, water ecosystem services. This provides an initial diagnostic for water resource managers and a mechanism for evaluating tradeoffs through future scenarios. Building on a risk assessment framework, we present a three-tiered indicator for measuring where demand exceeds the supply of services, addressing the scope (spatial extent), frequency, and amplitude for which objectives (service delivery) are not met. The Ecosystem Service Indicator is measured on a 0–100 scale, which encompasses none to total service delivery. We demonstrate the framework and its applicability to a variety of services and data sources (e.g., monitoring stations, statistical yearbooks, modeled datasets) from case studies in China and Southeast Asia. We evaluate the sensitivity of the indicator scores to varying levels data and three methods of calculation using a simulated test dataset. Our indicator framework is conceptually simple, robust, and flexible enough to offer a starting point for decision-makers and to accommodate the evolution and expansion of tools, models and data sources used to measure and evaluate the value of water ecosystem services.

Understanding the impacts of human activity on the environment is critical to water resources planning and ecosystem services sustainability. The goal of this work is to develop decision making and support tools for natural resources conservation and assessment at the Lower Mekong River basin by leveraging satellite observations of Earth, physical hydrological modeling (doi:10.3390/rs10060885), and freshwater health index framework (doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.040). The approach adopted in this work relied on a comprehensive suite of hydrological data products and a regional hydrological decision support system application for the Lower Mekong River basin compiled and developed to improve water accounting and floodplain management. The social-ecological framework named the freshwater health index (FHI) takes account of the interplay between governance, stakeholders, freshwater ecosystems and the ecosystems services they provide. Various dam reservoir scenarios have been examined based on stakeholder engagement to enhance the results of the integrative social and ecological nature of fresh waters at the Srepok, Sesan, and Sekong (3S) River basins of the Lower Mekong. Preliminary results represented by ecosystem vitality indicator has corroborated seasonal flow patterns change in response to water storage capacity increase. For instance, current modeled reservoirs at the 3S River basin exhibit a deviation from natural flow decrease of 10% when compared with baseline reservoirs. Governance and Stakeholders role has been found critical to the health of the 3S freshwater ecosystem. The approach methodology utilized in this work employing the integration of satellite earth observation data and hydrological modeling to investigate ecosystem freshwater health is applicable on a global scale. This work is part of an ongoing research partnership work between the National Aeronautical and Space Agency (NASA) and the Conservation International (CI) dedicated to improving natural resources assessment for conservation and sustainable management.

SummaryThirty-two percent of bird species in South-East Asia are likely to become extinct by the end of this century. However, due to a lack of data this number may be an underestimate. The Chestnut-headed Partridge Arborophila cambodiana found in south-west Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountain range is a largely unknown potentially at-risk species. We used line transects and camera traps to survey A. cambodiana in four protected areas in the Cardamom Mountains to estimate population densities. We also assessed their current distribution range and broad scale habitat changes from 1996 to 2016. We found A. cambodiana in evergreen and semi-evergreen forest at a density of 1.23 calling males/km2, and at altitudes above 400 m and where the slope was between 11 and 43o. From 1996 to 2016 A. cambodiana’s potential habitat decreased by 11%, whilst the total evergreen forest cover in the Cardamom Mountains decreased by 20%. A. cambodiana has a very restricted range within which the habitat has been fragmented. Compounded by human disturbance and development activities that negatively affect the species, we suggest a revision of its IUCN Red List status from ‘Least Concern’ to ‘Near Threatened’ as it partially meets a range of threatened Red List species criteria.

River red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) is the dominant floodplain tree of the River Murray in south-eastern Australia. Drought and over-allocation of water have seen tree condition decline and en...

Hydropower dam development in the Mekong River Basin is threatening both biodiversity and the output of the world’s largest inland fishery. Fragmentation of the river system by dams blocking the free movement of riverine species can have a direct impact on migratory fish species, which constitute a significant portion of the basins wild fishery. Fish passes, which allow fish to bypass dams, are often proposed as potential solutions to these problems. However, there is uncertainty around the effectiveness of fish passes in the species-rich environment of the Lower Mekong, and this has real consequences for the region and its development strategies. As a first step to evaluate the effects of dams in the region, we used the Dendritic Connectivity Index (DCI) to examine the impact on connectivity by providing fish passage on as many as 105 current, under construction and planned dams on the Sesan, Srepok and Sekong tributaries of the Mekong River. Our results indicate that, at the current stage of development, overall connectivity of the river system is sensitive to the efficiency of fish passes – and with highly efficient fish passes, connectivity comparable to a natural network is possible. However, as the number of dams on each tributary increase, even highly efficient fish passes are unable to improve connectivity significantly. While this paper does not explicitly focus on the functioning and limitation of fish passes, this broader analysis clearly establishes that, if constructed, robust monitoring for the newly-designed fish pass on the Lower Sesan II dam would be critical for evaluating and informing future development strategies.

The Vulnerable fishing cat Prionailurus viverrinus faces a perilous future in South-east Asia. It was last sighted in Cambodia in 2003. We deployed 16 camera traps at four sites in southern Cambodia during January–May 2015 to determine if the fishing cat was still present in the country. Eight photograph/video captures of fishing cats were recorded from the mangroves in Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary and one from Ream National Park, but there were no records from Botum Sakor National Park or Prey Nup. A number of other globally threatened species were also photographed in Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary: the Sunda pangolin Manis javanica, the hog deer Axis porcinus and the large-spotted civet Viverra megaspila. We learnt of the killing of an alleged fishing cat at the Sanctuary in July 2015 in retaliation for raiding fishing nets. Illegal hunting and capture of fishing cats for the wildlife trade were reported by local informants at all sites. We provide photographic and video evidence of the fishing cats and highlight the importance of Cambodia's mangroves for threatened species conservation.

The “Building Capacity for Conservation in Southeast Asia” symposium was held at the 2015 Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Asia-Pacific Chapter meeting. The range of programs discussed fell into three categories: career development, project-specific activities and outreach, and delivering conservation information to diverse audiences. Though different approaches were used, we identified practices and methods which increased the meaning, relevance, and applicability of the messages provided. We found that delivering successful conservation education requires understanding conservation's place in society, developing a feeling of community among students, providing students with financial support, practical teaching, and crafting culturally appropriate messages.

River regulation has degraded the River Murray’s riverine ecosystems. Environmental flows are now being delivered to restore these ecosystems to a more natural, pre-regulation state. To guide the d...

Summary The effect of river regulation on the connectivity of the South Australian River Murray to its floodplain wetlands was examined using unregulated ‘natural’ and ‘regulated’ river flow data simulated between the years 1895 to 2009. A sample of 185 wetlands was used to calculate a range of connectivity statistics under both simulation scenarios. These statistics summarised the timing and duration of both connection and disconnection, as well as inundated area. Wetlands ranged from being permanently inundated, connected multiple times per year due to both small fluctuations in river level and the annual flood pulse, to flooded with diminishing frequency depending on the size of the annual flood pulse and their position on the floodplain. Under the natural scenario a wide range of wetland connectivity profiles were recorded whereas under the regulated scenario wetlands tended to be either permanently inundated or infrequently flooded. Under natural conditions wetlands that required higher flow before connecting were less frequently connected and for shorter periods. Under regulated conditions a larger proportion of wetland area was permanently connected than under natural conditions, however the annual flood pulse connected a larger area of wetlands under natural conditions. The information derived from this analysis can be used to design wetland management plans for individual wetlands within a river-wide management regime restoring lost hydrological variability.

Degradation of freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide is a primary cause of increasing water insecurity, raising the need for integrated solutions to freshwater management. While methods for characterizing the multi-faceted challenges of managing freshwater ecosystems abound, they tend to emphasize either social or ecological dimensions and fall short of being truly integrative. This paper suggests that management for sustainability of freshwater systems needs to consider the linkages between human water uses, freshwater ecosystems and governance. We present a conceptualization of freshwater resources as part of an integrated social-ecological system and propose a set of corresponding indicators to monitor freshwater ecosystem health and to highlight priorities for management. We demonstrate an application of this new framework -the Freshwater Health Index (FHI) - in the Dongjiang River Basin in southern China, where stakeholders are addressing multiple and conflicting freshwater demands. By combining empirical and modeled datasets with surveys to gauge stakeholders' preferences and elicit expert information about governance mechanisms, the FHI helps stakeholders understand the status of freshwater ecosystems in their basin, how ecosystems are being manipulated to enhance or decrease water-related services, and how well the existing water resource management regime is equipped to govern these dynamics over time. This framework helps to operationalize a truly integrated approach to water resource management by recognizing the interplay between governance, stakeholders, freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide.

Indicator systems can improve water governance by integrating and simplifying data on water resources. However, to our knowledge, no indicator systems have been comprehensively assessed against the water governance framework within which they operate. We assess the policy relevance of the Freshwater Health Index (FHI) to the governance frameworks of Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Viet Nam. These governance frameworks were chosen because the FHI has been applied to the transboundary Sesan, Srepok, and Sekong (3S) river basin, which traverses the three nations. We conduct an institutional analysis, assessing the FHI indicators against each nation&rsquo, s relevant laws, plans, policies and strategies, as well as international agreements. The FHI indicators varied in their alignment with the 3S&rsquo, s transboundary water governance framework. Ecosystem Vitality indicators, which measure environmental health, tended to show a greater alignment than Ecosystem Service indicators. The Governance and Stakeholders indicators, which assess aspects of the governance system, were highly relevant. Comparing the 3S FHI assessment results to the water governance framework provided a case for delivering environmental flows and headwater reforestation, and improving biodiversity protection and fish passage. The generally close alignment of FHI metrics with the 3S&rsquo, s water governance frameworks shows that the FHI is a policy-relevant tool.

Weir-pool surcharge is a method of providing water for the environment by using in-channel weirs to raise the river above its normal operating level, holding it for a period and then restoring it. In the spring and summer of 2005–2006 the level of the Lock 5 and 6 weir pools were surcharged for environmental benefit. the effect of the surcharge on the shrub, tangled lignum (Muehlenbeckia florulenta Meissn.), was assessed at six sites, where all surveyed plants were inundated. From 2004–2008 three categorical parameters: branch greenness, leaves and flowering were assessed from repeatedly measured shrubs. there were few changes in parameter state between surveys, with a change only occurring 32% of the time. Where a change did occur, shrubs tended to move back and forth between adjacent states rather than in one direction. this was unexpected as lignum is known to respond to flooding by producing shoots, flowers and leaves. Possible explanations for this lack of response were that the monitored lig...

Indicators of hydrologic alteration and the range of variability approach were used to assess the effects of river regulation on the hydrology of the River Murray in South Australia. Two simulated data sets derived from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's MSM-Bigmod model were compared for the period of 1895–2009. The first scenario assumed that levels of extraction and diversion as of July 2009 (present) were applicable for the entire period. The second assumed that there were no water extractions or regulatory structures and the system was natural. Whilst the natural cycle of a single yearly high flow pulse was largely preserved, lower flow pulses were more prevalent and of longer duration under present conditions, whilst high pulses were less frequent and of shorter duration. Flow variability had increased during times of high flow, and decreased during times of low flow. The difference between natural and present conditions was more severe in the summer and autumn than the winter and spring. ...

River red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Denhn.) trees along the lower River Murray, Australia, have suffered severe dieback as a result of river regulation and drought. As an environmental flow initiative, the height of the lower River Murray in South Australia was raised during a period of increased flow in the spring and summer of 2005–2006. This was performed by increasing the level of the rivers in channel weirs. This increased the level of anabranch creeks on the Chowilla floodplain and through horizontal recharge freshened the adjacent groundwater, providing water to riparian river red gums. Groundwater depth rose concurrently with the rise in creek level, likely recharging the saline floodplain water table with fresh creek water. Multistate Markov modelling showed that along four creeks, most healthy trees responded positively to the rise in water level and remained healthy 1 year after the surcharge. Healthy trees were three times more likely to respond than stressed trees and thirty times more likely to respond than defoliated trees. Stressed trees were ten times more likely to respond than defoliated trees. Forty eight percent of trees that had no leaves at the start of the study responded to the surcharge by producing new growth. This study demonstrates how existing regulatory infrastructure can be used to manipulate water levels and that the hydrological connection between surface water and groundwater can be used to provide water to riparian trees. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lowland rivers impounded by weirs are often operated to provide stable water levels. In the lower River Murray, stable water levels promote algal biofilms dominated by stalked diatoms, filamentous green algae and Cyanobacteria. In summer 2005–2006, the Lock 5 weir pool was surcharged for environmental benefit. Algal biofilms grown on artificial substrates were compared to the following year when the water level remained stable. On both occasions, substrates were fixed at 300-mm depth in the river channel and a connected wetland. During the surcharge, additional floating substrates were deployed to control for the change in water level. The algal communities that developed during both years were dominated by diatoms. A greater diversity in the biofilm community was evident during the 4-month surcharge when compared with the following year. This was due to a much greater change in algal biofilm community composition over the 4 months of the surcharge, compared with biofilms grown during a period of stable water level, when the community changed little after 1 month. The lack of difference between fixed and floating substrates suggests that the change in water level was not responsible for the difference between the surcharge and stable level biofilms. Possible reasons for the difference between years include light, nutrients and water temperature. Although the effect of the surcharge could not be definitively defined, these results provide some evidence that weir pool surcharge may be used to improve algal biofilm diversity when compared with the current stable water level regime. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Summary For decades the floodplain forests of the River Murray have endured the effects of prolonged water stress. This has resulted in significant crown dieback and loss of condition. The Living Murray (TLM) initiative aims to restore the ecological health of six Icon Sites along the River. The two eucalypts River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and Black Box (Eucalyptus largiflorens) that dominate the forests at five of the six Icon Sites are undergoing widespread decline. To enable effective management and restoration of these forests, we developed a standardised tree condition assessment method. Named the TLM tree condition assessment method, it utilises visual assessment of a range of tree crown variables (extent and density of the foliage in the crown, epicormic growth, new tip growth, reproductive activity, leaf die-off, mistletoe infestation) and measurements of bark condition, diameter at breast height and dominance class. This article describes the TLM tree condition assessment method and assesses it for consistency between multiple observer teams after limited training. The level of observer agreement between six teams each comprised of two observers was assessed for seven of the ten variables. Intra-class correlation was used to compare scores of 30 River Red Gum trees assessed on Gunbower Island on the River Murray. The level of agreement for all variables was statistically significant with six of seven variables having correlation coefficients over R = 0.5. The TLM tree condition assessment method was found to provide accurate estimates of a range of tree variables that can be used to determine tree condition. The TLM tree condition assessment method provides a valuable monitoring tool that can be used to assess management interventions, such as management flooding and silvicultural thinning.

A conceptual model describing the response of two Australian floodplain eucalypts, river red gum ( Eucalyptus camaldulensis ) and black box ( Eucalyptus largiflorens ), to changes in water availability was developed based on field observations. This model was incorporated into a percentage based visual method estimating two tree crown parameters, crown extent and density. Extent is the amount of foliage at the periphery of the assessable crown; density is the density of assessable crown foliage. Polychoric correlation was used to determine the level of agreement between two experienced observers assessing river red gum and black box trees using a simple percentage scale and a percentage scale supported by the conceptual model. Trees were evaluated using the model by determining their position on a trajectory of water stress related decline and response. In both cases observer estimates of crown extent and density were significantly correlated. With the exception of red gum crown density the correlation coefficients were higher for the model supported scale. Using a conceptual model of tree response to water availability improved observer agreement. Supporting subjective assessment systems with a conceptual model is recommended to improve observer agreement in cases where a distinct model of the dominant stressor can be defined.

The delivery of environmental flows to riverine floodplains is often constrained by water scarcity and infrastructure. This means that areas of floodplain are unable to receive environmental water through mechanisms like dam release, weir pool surcharge and artificial flooding of low lying areas. This study trials aquifer injection as a method of providing environmental flows to areas of stressed river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) on the floodplain of the lower River Murray. The objective was to inject fresh river water at the top of the saline alluvial aquifer to reduce root zone salinity and improve the condition of E. camaldulensis. Localized radial freshening of ∼10 m was observed at each of the five injection wells when 4·9 Ml (megalitres) of river water was injected into the aquifer over 45 days. Injection was abandoned after 45 days due to aquifer and well clogging, and increases in groundwater head, which caused four of the five wells to breach the confining clay layer. The trial resulted in localized and short-lived freshening of the groundwater, which reduced salinity in the associated capillary fringe. This did not result in an improvement in the tree condition as they lay beyond the lateral extent of the freshening and were unable to access the water. Solutions to technical issues such as aquifer clogging and well breaching, as well as a need to increase the lateral extent of freshening, are required before shallow aquifer injection can be recommended as a method of delivering environmental flows. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Many of South Australia's remnant temperate native grasslands are degraded by introduced livestock grazing. As a conservation measure, grazing was excluded from three 50 × 50 m exclosures in grazed native grassland. After 4 years, grazing removal had a noticeable effect on the grassland structure, increasing basal vegetation cover. Grazing removal had no significant effect on either native or exotic species richness, rather differences in richness changed as a result of interannual differences, such as the amount of rainfall that fell in the growing season. The percent cover of the native tussock grass Austrostipa spp. and the introduced annual grass Avena barbata, whilst fluctuating from year to year, both increased following the removal of grazing. Multivariate analyses showed that whilst only interannual differences affected community taxon richness, changes in structure were affected by the interaction between grazing treatment and year. Excluding livestock from a degraded grassland resulted in limited recovery and restoration of these endangered plant associations will require active rehabilitation efforts.

Climate change will challenge managers to balance the freshwater needs of humans and wetlands. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that most regions of the world will be exposed to higher temperatures, 2 , and more erratic precipitation, with some regions likely to have alternating episodes of intense flooding and mega-drought. Coastal areas will be exposed to more frequent saltwater inundation as sea levels rise. Local land managers desperately need intra-regional climate information for site-specific planning, management, and restoration activities. Managers will be challenged to deliver freshwater to floodplains during climate change-induced drought, particularly within hydrologically altered and developed landscapes. Assessment of forest health, both by field and remote sensing techniques, will be essential to signal the need for hydrologic remediation. Studies of the utility of the release of freshwater to remediate stressed forested floodplains along the Murray and Mississippi Rivers suggest that brief episodes of freshwater remediation for trees can have positive health benefits for these forests. The challenges of climate change in forests of the developing world will be considered using the Tonle Sap of Cambodia as an example. With little ecological knowledge of the impacts, managing climate change will add to environmental problems already faced in the developing world with new river engineering projects. These emerging approaches to remediate stressed trees will be of utmost importance for managing worldwide floodplain forests with predicted climate changes.

The pygmy bluetongue lizard, Tiliqua adelaidensis, occupies spider burrows as home sites. It is an endangered species, known from only 19 small natural grassland sites in the mid-north of South Australia, all on privately owned land. Habitat requirements of the pygmy bluetongue lizard were investigated at four sites. Both within and between sites, lizards were more likely to be found in areas with a greater number of deep spider burrows. Areas where lizards were not found tended to lack these burrows. Strong site similarities were found for a range of habitat parameters examined. Within these grasslands there was no specific vegetation community associated with areas occupied by pygmy bluetongue lizards. However there was a distinct vegetation community associated with an absence of lizards. Generally there was no difference in the abundance and diversity of ground dwelling invertebrates between areas with and without lizards. As the only protected area of natural grassland within the known distribution, Mokota Conservation Park was assessed as a potential reintroduction site. It was found to be unsuitable due to a low number of deep spider burrows and a vegetation community similar to that found in uninhabited areas of known lizard inhabited sites. Unless other conservation areas can be established, preservation of this lizard will rely on habitat management by private land holders. Community goodwill and informed advice to the land holders will be essential in this process.

The endangered pygmy blue tongue lizard, Tiliqua adelaidensis, occupies spider burrows in a population near Burra, South Australia. In each of twelve 20 × 20 m plots at that population, we added 36 artificial burrows, providing about a ten fold increase in suitable burrows for lizards. Over three surveys during the spring and summer of 2001/2002 there were significant increases in lizard numbers in the experimental plots relative to the controls, both for adult lizards and for new recruits after clutches were produced. This local increase in population density may be due to lizards locating suitable burrows more easily where burrow numbers were supplemented. The increased availability of high quality burrows may also reduce mortality among lizards searching for suitable burrows. Additional burrows also led to an increase in local density of a burrow-dwelling centipede that is a potential predator of lizards, but there was no evidence of predation, and any negative predation impact was outweighed by the beneficial effect of providing more burrows. Overall the results suggest that adding artificial burrows could enhance local population density and recruitment success, and that this could be a valuable tool in the conservation management of this endangered species.

In October 2013 the Royal Society of South Australia held a symposium on the topic of climate change. This reprised the Society's previous symposium on the topic 20 years previously and provided a forum for reflection on the changes to climate change science that have occurred since 1993. A number of presentations were given, spanning three topic areas: (i) climate change science and adaptation, (ii) impacts on soils and water, and (iii) impacts on urban ecology and human health. In contrast to the 1993 symposium which was largely predictive of future impacts, the 2013 speakers focussed on current and future mitigation and adaptation strategies. The complex interplay between biophysical and social systems and the need to understand this to enable adaptation and response to climate change were also highlighted. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

A new species of the genus Lycodon Fitzinger, 1826 is described from the Cardamom Mountains of southwest Cambodia. Lycodon zoosvictoriae distinctly differs from all other species of Lycodon in Southeast Asia by a combination of its morphometric characters and unique coloration. The new species has 17 dorsal scales at midbody; 2+2 temporals; 8 supralabials; 10 infralabials; loreal separated from internasal and orbit; 213 ventrals; 85 subcaudals; pale tan brown ground color; irregular dark brown blotches on anterior part, 31 transverse blotches on posterior part of body and 26 blotches on tail. Given its submontane type locality, the new species could prove to be endemic to the Cardamom Mountains of southwest Cambodia and probably Southeast Thailand.

The Commonwealth Water Act 2007 requires the preparation of a basin plan which guides the management of the Murray-Darling Basin's water resources.A scientific review of the draft basin plan during its public review period by senior elected follows of the Royal Society of South Australia found that the plan: was deficient in explaining the relative merits of how the environmentally sustainable level of take was calculated; did not adequately detail the extent to which system constraints limited the volume of water that could be returned to the environment;used an inappropriate risk assessment methodology in determining the level of ground water extraction; and lacked sufficient scientific rigour in its monitoring and adaptive management sections. We concluded that unless substantial changes were made to address these points it is unlikely that the final Basin Plan would provide a sound basis for the successful management of the Murray-Darling basin's water resources.

Clark’s Floodplain, Bookpurnong, South Australia represents a pilot investigation site from which the outcomes will direct management of the larger 17,700 hectare Chowilla Floodplain system, one of six icon sites identified under the Living Murray Initiative. At Clark’s a number of technologies are being trialed including fresh water injection, saline water extraction and artificial surface flooding. The investigations across the sites are measured for success using a variety of vegetation health assessments and supported by investigations into water processes including numerical modeling, soil analysis, ground and surface water monitoring, and a suite of geophysical surveys (EM31, land and in-river TEM, and airborne FDEM and TEM).

A new species of the genus Lycodon Fitzinger, 1826 is described from the Cardamom Mountains of southwest Cambodia. Lycodon zoosvictoriae distinctly differs from all other species of Lycodon in Southeast Asia by a combination of its morphometric characters and unique coloration. The new species has 17 dorsal scales at midbody; 2+2 temporals; 8 supralabials; 10 infralabials; loreal separated from internasal and orbit; 213 ventrals; 85 subcaudals; pale tan brown ground color; irregular dark brown blotches on anterior part, 31 transverse blotches on posterior part of body and 26 blotches on tail. Given its submontane type locality, the new species could prove to be endemic to the Cardamom Mountains of southwest Cambodia and probably Southeast Thailand.