Resources/ Estuary Science
The Swan-Canning Estuary is a typical urban estuarine system with comlictated physical and biogeochemical processes. The interaction of the freshwater flushing from the Canning-Avon catchment and and Indian Ocean intrusion creates a diverse habitat continuum and a productive ecosystem. Knowledge of various aspects of the estuarine ecosystem, including nutrient cycling, plankton ecology, fish, benthic community etc, are required to understand and manage the water quality issues. The knowledge of interactions of the estuary with local climate and sediment are also critical to model and predict the estuary conditions.
Given it is a complicated system it is hard to give a complete introduction of the estuary science in one webpage. Yet below are some useful information for visitors who are interested in the scientific information of the Swan-Canning Estuary:
The publications section of this website contains rich scientific reports of the Swan-Canning Esutuary.
The Waterways section of the Department of Water website provides a rich overview of why WA estuaries are important, how they work, and the threats they face.
The Water Notes series provides a general guide to river and wetland ecology, restoration and management. Further information relevant to the Swan-Canning system will be updated throughout the research project in future.
A conceptual diagram showing how the Swan-Canning Response Model works is as below:
