Water Monitoring

Freshwater aquatic invertebrates report – King Island, Tasmania, 2023 BushBlitz expedition

” …across King Island, the streams and wetlands support diverse freshwater communities, the composition of invertebrates differing between sites and geographic location, and each being worthy of protection.
Catchments in the southeast retain patches of intact riparian vegetation, contributing substantially to in-stream aquatic habitat and supporting more diversity in caddisfly, mayfly and dipteran taxa. Of the wetlands surveyed Lake Flannigan hosts the greatest array of mollusc fauna, some which may be new to science. However, of all the sites visited, Boggy Creek and its nearby tufa, with their mineral-rich waters, present a unique environment and
are worthy of further investigation…”

The Bushblitz expedition report includes data from reports provided by the scientists who took part in the expedition. The full Freshwater aquatic invertbrates report scientific report is available here for those who require more detailed information.

Other significant findings
“The freshwater sponge and associated spongefly taxa were recorded at two sites, however, little is known about the species from Tasmania, of which King Island is part. Sea Elephant River below the bridge on Fraser Rd supports a continuous sheet of freshwater sponge on the surfaces of the submerged rocks. The sponge hosted spongefly larvae, a group also mentioned in the Grove report. At least 2 species of spongefly larvae were detected from locations during the Bush Blitz. Prior to the Bush Blitz there were no records of spongefly from King Island. Further investigation of both the sponges and spongefly taxa is warranted.
Freshwater molluscs – The Bush Blitz survey found that freshwater mollusc diversity across King Island is not homogeneous, with potentially > 15 taxa present (compared with the 10 previously recorded), although not at a single location. Streams within Pegarah Forest were least diverse containing a single species of bivalve, while Boggy Creek and its associated tufa contained up to 4 Austropyrgus species, (currently undifferentiated) and Lake Flannigan hosts several other Austropyrgus species (sample again undifferentiated due to time constraints).
Taxonomic resolution of the Austropyrgus collected on this Bush Blitz remains outstanding but will far exceed the 2 species previously recorded from King Island. The diversity appears to be a combination of mainland and northwest Tasmania species, but also includes some unnamed species which may be endemic to King Island”

Biodiversity and Water Monitoring on King Island. Cradle Coast NRM 2010-2011

Data collected includes water monitoring of selected waterways, comparison vegetation data from 2010 to 2011 on wallaby exclosures, a small study involving protecting the endangered orchid Pterostylis cucullata (leafy greenhood) from wallaby browsing and recording differences with unprotected sites. Only 2 Orange-bellied parrots were recorded during the blitz in March 2012, in which staff of the Threatened Species Unit, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and volunteers monitored all known sites for the presence of the critically endangered bird. Population monitoring and habitat restoration work will continue to be completed by volunteers and as project funds become available.

Waterwatch 2000 – 2011

King Island WaterWatch Project Details

KINRMG ran water monitoring and education activities over many years culminating in Water Quality and Stream Condition on King Island, 2004 – 2008

Aims were to:

To collect sound scientific data on the quality of King Island’s key waterways;
To inform & train the King Island community in “caring for waterways”;
To establish and maintain an island wide community-based water quality program
The work focussed on water quality data collected at sites located on the following waterways: Sea Elephant River, Ettrick River, Fraser River, Yellow Rock River, Porky Creek, Egg Lagoon Creek, Seal River, Yarra Creek, and Lake Flannigan.

Last Updated on 4 June 2026