Fellowship of the spring

Drones, DNA, dedication, and innovation drive the protection of Edgbaston’s springs.

Dr Dean Gilligan, freshwater and wetland ecologist for Bush Heritage Australia, arrived at Edgbaston Special Wildlife Reserve in 2021. The reserve spans more than 8,000 hectares on Bidjara Country and is about two hours’ drive north-east of Longreach in Central Queensland.

Asked to describe the place, Dean says the name is misleading in one respect. Edgbaston, after all, recalls cricket tests on the other side of the world. “But concentrate on the edge bit,” he says, “and you get closer to the truth.”

Edgbaston is on the edge of the Great Artesian Basin, the edge of different climatic zones (the arid zone and tropics), the edge of the Lake Eyre Basin, and the edge of two bioregions. Wander for a short time through this varied landscape and you’ll pass Mitchell grass plains, spinifex dunes, woodlands, wetlands and stony escarpments – the meeting of many edges.

As the Great Artesian Basin waters meet the surface, they become springs – permanent pools that have been isolated for millennia in an otherwise dry landscape. More unique endemic plants and animals have evolved here than in any other springs in Australia – 37 species are found nowhere else in the world.

“It’s a special place,” says Dr Renee Rossini, a freshwater and wetlands ecologist for Bush Heritage who has been working at ‘Edgy’ for more than a decade.

The Pelican Creek Springs complex is one of the three most biodiverse springs in the world, and Edgbaston Reserve protects about 80% of its springs. The other two springs are on the other side of the world: Cuatro Ciénegas in northern Mexico and Ash Meadows (Devil’s Hole) in Nevada, United States of America.

While both international locations have benefitted from greater resources and a longer history of contemporary management than Edgbaston, they have also suffered or continue to suffer greater habitat degradation. Some of the springs at Cuatro Ciénegas have already disappeared, and three unique species of spring-dependent animals have become extinct at Ash Meadows. In both cases, the primary cause of decline is water over-extraction.

Dean takes his role managing a recovery plan for one of the three most precious spring complexes in the world very seriously. “My priority is to do it right,” he says. It prompted him to apply for a Churchill Fellowship to visit Ash Meadows and Cuatro Ciénegas on a study tour. In his words, he was hoping for some ‘aha!’ moments. Most of his learnings were of a more nuanced kind, but he did have one epiphany: “We should celebrate that we are doing well managing our springs in Australia,” he says.

Of particular interest to Dean was the hatchery at Ash Meadows, where a simulated habitat has been created for one of the most critically endangered species in the world – the Devil’s Hole Pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis). The art of meeting the specialised needs of the pupfish has been an ongoing process of experimentation by a team of dedicated fish biologists.

Dean argues that Edgbaston’s equally rare Red-finned Blue-eye (Scaturiginichthys vermeilipinnis) requires similar experimental approaches, as there is still much to learn about the species.

Although scientists are still learning about Red-finned Blue-eye, they have almost a decade of experience captive breeding the species at Edgbaston and are actively embracing new technologies to foster their recovery. A cutting-edge breeding facility is currently under construction and is scheduled to be in operation in the near future.

The team is collaborating with genetic scientists using the emerging ecological tool of environmental DNA in the springs. This means they can understand the genetic diversity and reduce inbreeding risks without having to capture or disturb individual fish. Fine filters trap the skin cells and mucus of both fish and invertebrates, and the resulting sample is then analysed for DNA using a cloud-based library. Through a technique known as ‘blasting’, the team can determine every species present in the water sample.

Drones and LiDAR technology are being used to map the wetlands down to a centimetre scale. This provides high-resolution imagery to help target weeds in hard-to-reach places and predict where floodwaters may allow introduced Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) to access springs.

Renee is combining these new technological approaches with more than 40 years of historic data to build a picture of how Edgbaston has adapted and changed over time. “We are finding through this research which areas are safe and which areas we need to triage,” she explains. This research helps inform monitoring methods and reporting on the springs’ health, guiding best-practice conservation management.

Dean’s final takeaway from his Fellowship is about connected landscapes. “Research and resources in Australia tend to focus on just a few indicator species, with the idea that if they are doing okay, everything else must be fine. But at Ash Meadows, the focus is on a more holistic, ecosystem-wide approach,” explains Dean.

Moving in this direction, which was supported by the Queensland Government’s Queensland Threatened Species Research Program, may be another way in which Edgbaston is proving itself to be an environmental leader. To use that ‘edge’ analogy once again, Edgbaston is at the cutting-edge of ecological research. •

The captive breeding project is funded by the Australian Government’s Saving Native Species Program. The monitoring research project is proudly supported through the Queensland Government’s Queensland Threatened Species Research Program.