Project Manager: Professor Richard Kingsford
Project Coordinator: Dr John Porter

1. establish a publicly accessible national database of waterbird data (including national survey protocols, survey results, QA/QC documentation, and data interpretation guidelines;
2. conduct a national assessment of 907 high conservation value aquatic ecosystems across all Australian jurisdictions using waterbirds as an indicator of value; and
3. document the quantitative relationships between waterbird numbers and diversity and river flows in eastern Australia (Qld, NSW, ACT, Vic, and SA).

The project will bring together disparate waterbird monitoring programs across Australia through the establishment of a publicly accessible database as a repository for current and past waterbird monitoring projects. The project builds on waterbird monitoring programs in eastern Australia (NSW, Vic, SA, Qld), Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. The project incorporates a national assessment to 56 of Australia’s 64 Ramsar listed wetlands and 851 of Australia’s 904 listed wetlands of national importance. Water dependent ecosystems with high concentrations of waterbirds (>20,000 waterbirds) are recognised within Australia and internationally as being of high conservation value.

Aerial surveys will use the abundance and diversity of waterbirds to assess the condition of high conservation value aquatic ecosystems. Aerial surveys provide information on up to 50 waterbird species, including threatened species and migratory shorebird species, as well as breeding activity. The project will also use long-term data to determine environmental flow requirements for wetlands throughout eastern Australia. The project is funded by the National Water Commission to support the National Water Initiatives and will run for three years from June 2007 to June 2010