© Richard Kingsford 2017 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact CSIRO Publishing for all permission requests. The moral rights of the author(s) have been asserted. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Lake Eyre Basin rivers : environmental, social and economic importance / Richard Kingsford, editor. 9781486300785 (paperback) 9781486300792 (ePDF) 9781486300808 (epub) Includes bibliographical references and index. Wild and scenic rivers – Eyre, Lake, Basin. Watershed management – Eyre, Lake, Basin. Floodplain ecology – Eyre, Lake, Basin. Stream ecology – Eyre, Lake, Basin. Conservation of natural resources – Eyre, Lake, Basin. Eyre, Lake, Basin. Eyre, Lake, Basin – Environmental conditions. Kingsford, Richard, editor. Published by CSIRO Publishing Locked Bag 10 Clayton South VIC 3169 Australia Telephone: +61 3 9545 8400 Email: publishing.sales@csiro.au Website: www.publish.csiro.au Front cover (clockwise from top left): Cooper Creek during a dry period showing the Birdsville track and punt for the wet times (photo, R.T. Kingsford) Waterbirds, such as these royal spoonbills, descend on mass onto the floodplains of the Lake Eyre Basin rivers (photo, A. Emmott) Aboriginal middens like this at Coongie Lake, with thousands of mussels, reflect a deep and long history of connection to country of up to 50 000 years, along the Lake Eyre Basin rivers (photo, R.T. Kingsford) Braided channels carry water across the floodplains of the Georgina River to eventually flow south to Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre (photo, R.T. Kingsford). Back cover: Flooding across the Diamantina River floodplain in 2016 creates habitats for many invertebrates, fish, frogs, turtles and waterbirds, as well as many different plant species (photo, R.T. Kingsford). Set in 9.5/13.5 Adobe Garamond Pro Edited by Joy Window (Living Language) Cover design by James Kelly Typeset by Desktop Concepts Pty Ltd, Melbourne Index by Bruce Gillespie Printed in Singapore by C.O.S Printers Pte Ltd CSIRO Publishing publishes and distributes scientific, technical and health science books, magazines and journals from Australia to a worldwide audience and conducts these activities autonomously from the research activities of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of, and should not be attributed to, the publisher or CSIRO. The copyright owner shall not be liable for technical or other errors or omissions contained herein. The reader/user accepts all risks and responsibility for losses, damages, costs and other consequences resulting directly or indirectly from using this information. Original print edition: The paper this book is printed on is in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council ®. The FSC ® promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests.