The Chowilla Floodplain, located upstream of Renmark in South Australia, covers 17,700 hectares and is one of the icon sites under The Living Murray program. The floodplain contains the largest remaining river red gum forest in the Lower Murray and forms part of the Riverland Ramsar wetland of international importance.
High flows throughout the Murray–Darling Basin in 2022 peaked at the South Australian border in December. This inundated parts of the Chowilla Floodplain to an extent not seen in 50 years.
The reconnection of the full floodplain to the river rejuvenated the landscape and created a boom for wildlife. This provided researchers with a unique opportunity to monitor the area’s ecological responses.
These short films developed through the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) in South Australia provide insight into some of the monitoring activities undertaken. This includes fish, tadpole, and tree monitoring they undertake in partnership with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation rangers.
Understanding how the Chowilla Floodplain responds will help inform the targeted use of water for the environment at this site into the future.
River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation Rangers
The First Peoples of the River Murray and Mallee Region are the Traditional Owners of the Chowilla Floodplain. The River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation ranger team – works to protect and preserve their Country’s unique cultural and environmental values.
The first video highlights the collaboration between ecologists and the Riverland Rangers, who facilitated the post-flood monitoring at the Chowilla Floodplain.
Tadpole and fish monitoring
The Chowilla Floodplain is home to a diverse ecosystem that supports many species of plants and wildlife.
Out of the 31 frog species inhabiting the Basin, 8 have recently been found at the Chowilla Floodplain:
- Peron’s tree frog (Litoria peronii)
- Spotted marsh frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis)
- Long-thumbed frog (Limnodynastes fletcheri)
- Banjo frog (Limnodynastes dumerilii)
- Sudell’s burrowing frog (Neobatrachus sudellae)
- Painted burrowing frog (Neobatrachus pictus)
- Southern bell frog (Litoria raniformis) (threatened species)
- Murray valley froglet (Crinia parinsignifera)
All of these species except the Murray valley froglet were shown through the monitoring to have successfully bred. The frog breeding cycles create an abundance of food resources for other wildlife like birds, fish and turtles. The research undertaken informs how water for the environment can be delivered to support frog breeding events and the wider ecosystem into the future.
Black box eucalypt woodland
As part of the post-flood monitoring, ecologists have been assessing the health of Chowilla’s River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and Black Box (Eucalyptus largiflorens) trees. Last year’s flows inundated the higher elevation Black Box woodlands, which provided a much-needed boost to trees that had not seen water in 50 years.
Black Box is crucial to woodland birds’ breeding as it provides hollows for nesting birds such as the Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus). The survival and germination of these higher elevation woodlands will provide habitat for these and other species for years to come.
This monitoring project is one of many undertaken as part of The Living Murray program; a joint initiative funded by Basin states and Commonwealth governments and coordinated by the MDBA.