Frog and reptile responses to environmental water management workshop

Description

Back ground
Frogs and reptiles make a significant contribution to vertebrate biodiversity in the Murray-Darling Basin. With a number of frogs, retiles and turtle species threatened with extinction, these groups are extremely vulnerable to changing water management, hydrological modification and invasive aquatic species. The impact of these threats are compounded by increasing severity of extreme weather events due to climate change.

Active management interventions including hydrological manipulation, environmental water delivery, translocations and the creation persistent refuge habitats show great potential in maintaining and recovering frog and reptile population and maintaining diversity, but to date there has been limited opportunities for water managers and researchers to share knowledge across state boundaries and progress our understanding of how active water management could benefit threatened frog and reptile populations.

Aims
Bring together key researchers and practitioners involved in water management for frog and reptile conservation for a 1 day workshop focusing on:

• Adaptive water management for frogs and reptiles
• Outcomes and observations from water management- case studies from across the MDB
• Identify opportunities for cross program and research collaboration


Time Activity Facilitator
9.30 Welcomes and introductions Skye +others
Introduction to water dependent reptiles, frogs and turtles ( quick overviews)
10.00 Snakes and lizards Damian Michael
10.20 Freshwater Turtles Deb Bower and Van Dyke
10.40 Frogs Skye and Rupert Mathwin
10.40 Tea Break
11.00 Water management perspectives - frogs and reptiles in the northern basin Deb Bower
11.30 Water management perspectives - frogs and reptiles in the central basin James Maguire, Luca, Carmen Amos (Lachlan)
12.00 Water management perspectives - frogs and reptiles in the Victoria Phil Papas– Vic team
12.30 Water management perspectives - frogs and reptiles in the South Australia Rupert Mathwin and Kate
1-1.30 Lunch
1.30-2.00 Recap Skye Wassens
2.00-3.30 Facilitated Discussion - monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management of frogs and reptiles - way forward Skye + others

Period	01 Jul 2020
Event type	Workshop
Degree of Recognition	National