In arid and semi-arid regions, majority of the freshwater ecosystems are temporary, meaning they only hold water for a certain period of time while staying dry for the rest of the year (sometimes even years!).

Despite their ephemeral nature as a result of low rainfall and high evaporation, these temporary waters are an integral part of the arid landscape. They provide water sources to many arid wildlife, serve as habitats for a diverse range of freshwater species and ensure freshwater connectivity throughout the otherwise very dry environment.

Climate change impacts on temporary freshwater habitats

However, these climate-dependent freshwater habitats are increasingly under threat of being lost due to anthropogenic climate change. To help inform climate resilience planning and conservation management of these systems, my PhD research focuses on understanding current and future climate change impacts facing them in arid and semi-arid climates. I do this by using a combination of fieldwork, lab experiments and ecological modelling to study the effect of climate and environment on my study system — freshwater rock pools.

Freshwater rock pools are small depressions formed on rocky substrates over a very long geological time. When filled with rainfall, they support an unique diversity of freshwater invertebrates. Rock pools are a relatively small and simple temporary freshwater habitat, but still share ecological similarities with other larger temporary waters like ephemeral wetlands. This makes them suitable for studying climate change impacts on temporary fresh waters.

How can field sampling help climate change research?

Between June and September in 2023 and 2024, I made a total of six field trips to my study site, Hiltaba Nature Reserve on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, to collect environmental data and sample rock pool invertebrates (Read more about Hiltaba Nature Reserve on the Nature Foundation website).

The aim of the field trips was to collect field data that will help us understand what kind of species live in these rock pools and what sort of climate and environmental conditions they currently live in. With help from my awesome volunteer field assistants, I was able to georeference a total of 117 rock pools across four different granite outcrops at Hiltaba and selected 24 pools as my study pools for subsequent re-sampling.

The baseline knowledge generated through fieldwork is very important for climate change research. Once we have a good understanding of the ecosystem, we can then use climate projections, climate change experiments and ecological models to assess how species and communities might respond to future environmental changes.

What’s next?

While my fieldwork concluded last year in September, I have since been processing the invertebrate samples in the lab and analysing the climate and water quality data (including water temperature, pH and conductivity) collected over the last two years. Together, these data will give us a better understanding of the present-day conditions of rock pool invertebrate communities and the environment they live in.

I will use these field findings in my climate change experiment, which will be conducted later this year, to assess how future climate change would affect rock pool invertebrate species and community dynamics.

Stay tuned for more climate change and rock pool invertebrate research!