Dean Gilligan (NSW):
To apply world’s best practice to conservation of Australia’s unique freshwater springs ecosystems
The first in a series of interviews for Australian Rural & Regional News with 2024 Churchill Fellowship recipients whose projects have a rural or regional focus.
Project outline1
Edgbaston Springs are Australia’s most biodiverse Great Artesian Basin springs complex, with species of fish, invertebrates and plants found nowhere else. They have been rated as in the top three most important sites in the world for local endemic biodiversity, comparable to coral reefs, cloud forests or wetlands. The other two global hotspots of springs biodiversity, Ash Meadows (USA) and Cuatro Ciénegas (Mexico) have a much longer history of management than Edgbaston. This project will visit both international hotspots, study the strengths and weaknesses of their management and monitoring programs, and use these learnings to improve conservation of Australia’s Edgbaston Springs.
ARR.News: Why have you chosen to focus upon the conservation of Edgbaston Springs in particular?
Dean Gilligan: I am currently employed by the charitable organisation Bush Heritage Australia to oversee the protection of the springs, and the implementation of recovery actions at Edgbaston.
The community of native species dependent on natural discharge of groundwater from the Great Artesian Basin are listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under the federal EPBC Act. The springs ecological community consists of a long list of generally poorly studied plants and animals that are themselves listed as threatened under state or federal legislation.
In 2018, a team of springs ecologists published a paper2 comparing the biodiversity value of each springs cluster within the Endangered Ecological Community – encompassing springs in Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales.
That study determined that the Edgbaston Springs had the highest conservation value (by far) of any springs cluster. And many of the individually listed plants and animals occur at Edgbaston. Later, an international team ranked Edgbaston Springs as amongst the top three most important desert springs systems in the world.3
In addition to being a high priority for the reasons given above, implementation of the lessons learned at Edgbaston can provide an exemplar for Artesian Springs management across Australia.
ARR.News: What are key threats to the ecosystem there that you will be investigating?
Dean Gilligan: Key threats to springs ecosystems that I will be investigating during the fellowship are invasive pest fish, other feral animals (largely feral pigs), woody and wetland weeds, actively managed intermediate disturbance, the role of fire in management of spring vegetation, ecotourism (both opportunities and risks), the security of groundwater supplies (both quantity and quality (groundwater pollution risks)), and the potential costs and benefits of having the Edgbaston Springs listed under international conventions like Ramsar and UNESCO Biosphere Reserves.
I’ll also investigate how managers of the other two global springs hotspots manage their captive breeding and re-introduction programs for threatened fish (and any other plants or animals), the design of their ecosystem condition and threat monitoring programs, and novel or emerging aspects of their management plans that could be adopted in Australia.
ARR.News: Will there be lessons from your study that will be applicable elsewhere? (For instance, the terrible carp problem in the Murray-Darling)
Dean Gilligan: As above, implementation of the lessons learned at Edgbaston can provide an exemplar for Artesian Springs management across Australia.
Each of the two springs complexes I’ll be visiting (the other two global hotspots: Ash Meadows in the USA and Cuarto Cienegas in Mexico) have a much longer history of conservation management and potentially much larger management budgets than any springs systems in Australia. While interviewing colleagues responsible for desert springs management and research overseas, I particularly wish to capitalise on their collective experience by focusing on their key successes and failures. These aspects will be the most informative for managing all of Australia’s endangered springs ecosystems.
Particularly important aspects I am most excited about are the Spring Fishes Captive Breeding Facility at Ash Meadows and the application of Trojan gene technology as a tool for landscape control of pest fish at Cuarto Cienegas. These may have tangible implications for management of captive-breeding and reintroduction of threatened fishes and landscape-scale control of pest fish (like carp, gambusia, Tilapia and redfin perch).
About Dean Gilligan4
Dean has a passion for wildlife. His career has focused on the study of Australia’s freshwater fish and the rivers, lakes and wetlands they occupy. He has worked throughout the Murray-Darling Basin and coastal rivers of NSW, and most recently the internationally important Great Artesian Basin spring wetlands on Edgbaston Special Wildlife Reserve in central-west Queensland. These springs were recently rated amongst the top three global hotspots for desert springs biodiversity in the world.
Dean has a PhD in conservation genetics from Macquarie University. With 25 years experience as a professional wildlife biologist, Dean has developed national standing as an expert in freshwater ecology. His research spans long-term environmental health monitoring, threatened species recovery and invasive pest control. In his current role as Freshwater & Wetlands Ecologist within the charitable organisation Bush Heritage Australia, Dean applies his skills and experience to the protection and recovery of the endangered ecological community of the Great Artesian Basin springs, and the many endangered plants, invertebrates and fish unique to Edgbaston.
He has been a member of numerous government committees and working groups, including as ministerially appointed member of the NSW Fisheries Scientific Committee, the National Carp Control Plan Scientific Advisory Group and research program leader for freshwater pests within the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre. He currently chairs the national Red-finned Blue-eye recovery team.
Dean has a publication record including 55 peer-reviewed scientific articles in scientific journals, 9 book chapters, 41 conference presentations and numerous technical reports. He has co-supervised 4 PhD students, 3 Masters students and 6 Honours student research projects.
1. https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/project/to-apply-worlds-best-practice-to-conservation-of-australias-unique-freshwater-springs-ecosystems/
2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.12757
3. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-science/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1143378/full
4. https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fellow/dean-gilligan-nsw-2024/
Related story: 2024 Churchill Fellowship recipient: Kelly Lees