Wetlands and floodplains

Wetlands are an important component of the ecosystem providing habitat for many fish, aquatic invertebrates, birds, amphibians and reptiles. The health or condition of wetlands and associated vegetation communities can be negatively impacted by increasing salinity, sedimentation, pollution, removal and destruction of wetland habitat, and altered wetting regimes.

These threatening processes can impact on the fauna directly, through toxic effects, or indirectly, including by the loss of suitable breeding, sheltering and feeding sites and isolation of populations due to loss of water connectivity, particularly between floodplain wetlands and their adjacent river system. These impacts and threats can result in a loss of aquatic biodiversity from these systems. Restoration of aquatic habitats aims to return these systems back to a natural state and minimise threats.