Coongie Lakes
Encyclopedia
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
system in north-eastern South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
which includes lakes, channels, billabong
Billabong
Billabong is an Australian English word meaning a small lake, specifically an oxbow lake, a section of still water adjacent to a river, cut off by a change in the watercourse. Billabongs are usually formed when the path of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch with a dead end...
s, shallow floodplains, deltas, and interdune swamps. It lies on the floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
of Cooper Creek
Cooper Creek
Cooper Creek is one of the most famous and yet least visited rivers in Australia. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its tributaries and is one of three major Queensland river systems that flow into the Lake Eyre Basin...
, an ephemeral river flowing through a desert landscape in the Lake Eyre Basin
Lake Eyre Basin
The Lake Eyre basin is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. The Lake Eyre Basin is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about 1,200,000 square kilometres, including much of inland Queensland, large portions of South...
which rarely, after occasional large floods, empties into Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre is the lowest point in Australia, at approximately below sea level, and, on the rare occasions that it fills, it is the largest lake in Australia and 18th largest in the world...
. The wetlands have been recognised as being of international importance by designation under the Ramsar Convention
Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,...
; the site was listed on 15 June 1987 as Ramsar site 376. It is also a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
and, in part, an Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
(IBA) and a national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
. It lies within the Innamincka Regional Reserve
Innamincka Regional Reserve
Innamincka Regional Reserve is located in South Australia.The 1.3 million hectares reserve was created in 1988, in particular to protect its important wetlands.It was in this area that the Burke and Wills expedition started and finished....
, about 100 km north-west of Innamincka and 1100 km north-east of Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
.
Description
The Coongie Lakes Ramsar site has an area of 19,800 km2. The IBA is 593 km2, while a smaller area of 279 km2 was declared the Coongie Lakes National Park in June 2005. Land tenure is a mix of crown land, pastoral leasePastoral lease
A pastoral lease is Crown land that government allows to be leased, generally for the purposes of farming.-Australia:Pastoral leases exist in both Australian commonwealth law and state jurisdictions....
and national park. The surrounding region is arid and has a very low human population density; it is used mainly for cattle grazing, as well as for oil and gas production, and is becoming increasingly important for tourism. Some of the wetlands fill only on rare occasions; some contain water for a short time after periodic flooding, while others are permanent or almost permanent. It lies within the traditional lands of the Yandruwandha, Yawarrawarrka, Ngamini and Dieri
Dieri
The Dieri is an Indigenous Australian group and language from the South Australian desert—specifically Cooper and Leigh Creek, Lake Howitt, and Lake Hope, Lake Gregory and Clayton River and low country north of Mount Freeling.-Alternate names:DiariDiyeri...
people.
Flora and fauna
The banks and the periodically flooded areas of Cooper Creek and Coongie Lakes wetland system are vegetated by River Red Gums and CoolibahsEucalyptus coolabah
Eucalyptus coolabah is a eucalypt of riparian zones and is found throughout Australia from arid inland to coastal regions. The plant is commonly called coolibah or coolabah, the name being a loanword from the Indigenous Australian Yuwaaliyaay word, gulabaa.Propagation is dependent on periods of...
, often with a dense understorey of Lignum
Muehlenbeckia florulenta
Muehlenbeckia florulenta, commonly known as Tangled Lignum or often simply Lignum, is a plant native to inland Australia. It is associated with wetland habitats, especially those in arid and semiarid regions subject to cycles of intermittent flooding and drying out...
thickets. The adjacent gibber plains
Desert pavement
A desert pavement is a desert surface that is covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cobble size.-Formation:Several theories have been proposed for their formation...
are sparsely covered with Mitchell grass
Astrebla
Astrebla is a small genus of xerophytic grasses endemic to Australia. They are commonly known as Mitchell Grass.Species in this genera are:*Astrebla elymoides; Hoop Mitchell Grass*Astrebla lappacea; Curly Mitchell Grass...
, while the dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
country has species of Dodonaea
Dodonaea
Dodonaea is a genus of about 70 species of flowering plants in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, the Americas, southern Asia and Australasia. By far the highest species diversity is in Australia...
, Sandhill Wattle and Sandhill Canegrass.
Major floods, generally originating in heavy rainfall in western Queensland, initiate a period of rapid, opportunistic plant growth and an influx of wildlife, especially of large numbers of waterbirds such as duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
s, cormorant
Cormorant
The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...
s, pelicans
Australian Pelican
The Australian Pelican is a large water bird, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant to New Zealand.-Taxonomy:...
, ibis
Ibis
The ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae....
es, spoonbill
Spoonbill
Spoonbills are a group of large, long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, which also includes the Ibises.All have large, flat, spatulate bills and feed by wading through shallow water, sweeping the partly opened bill from side to side...
s, heron
Heron
The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....
s and wader
Wader
Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups. The latter are the skuas , gulls , terns , skimmers , and auks...
s that aggregate to feed and breed before dispersing as the waters recede. It was identified as an IBA because it supports, at times, more than 1% of the global populations of 12 species of waterbird and wader as well as significant numbers of Bourke's Parrot
Bourke's Parrot
The Bourke's Parrot , also known as the Bourke's Parakeet or "Bourkie", is a small parrot originating in Australia and the only species in its genus Neopsephotus...
s, Eyrean Grasswren
Eyrean Grasswren
The Eyrean Grasswren is a species of bird in the Maluridae family.It is endemic to Australia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 25 July 2007....
s, Gibberbird
Gibberbird
The Gibberbird is a species of bird endemic to Australia. It is the only species in the genus Ashbyia. It, along with the four chats in the genus Epthianura, have sometimes been placed in a separate family, Epthianuridae , but are now thought to be aberrant honeyeaters in the family...
s, Banded Whiteface
Banded Whiteface
The Banded Whiteface is a species of bird in the Pardalotidae family.It is endemic to Australia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 25 July 2007....
s, Chirruping Wedgebill
Chirruping Wedgebill
The Chirruping Wedgebill is a species of bird in the Cinclosomatidae family.It is endemic to Australia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 27 July 2007....
s and Cinnamon Quail-thrush
Cinnamon Quail-thrush
The Cinnamon Quail-thrush is a species of bird in the Cinclosomatidae family.It is endemic to Australia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 25 July 2007....
es.
Mammals present in the area include Red Kangaroo
Red Kangaroo
The Red Kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest mammal native to Australia, and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests.-Description:This species is a very...
s, Dingo
Dingo
The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
s and, in the wetlands, Rakali. There are also a variety of frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
s and reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s, including the Inland Taipan.