Prof Jenny Davis
Charles Darwin University | Freshwater Ecology
Professor Jenny Davis is a freshwater ecologist, and although she has retired from full time academia, she is still an active researcher within the Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods (RIEL) at Charles Darwin University, NT. Jenny has a PhD and BSc (Hons) from the University of Tasmania, and held academic positions at Murdoch University, Monash University and the University of Canberra, before joining Charles Darwin University in 2016. She has published over 200 works (including books, peer-reviewed papers, technical reports and an app) and supervised 90 research students (PhDs, Masters and Honours). She has received multiple awards including the Murdoch University Vice-Chancellors Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision in 2004, the ASL Limnology Medal in 2006, the Territory NRM Research Award for the discovery of NT stygofauna in 2022, and the Society of Wetland Scientists International Fellow Award in 2023. Jenny has contributed to many state and Commonwealth committees, including the Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Unconventional Gas Development and Large Coal Mine Development (the IESC), the AAS National Committee for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation (NCEEC), the Scientific Advisory Committee to TERN, the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) Research Advisory Committee, the WA Wetlands Coordinating Committee and the WA Conservation Commission (the advisory board to the former WA Department of Conservation and Land Management). She is currently a member of the International Organising Committee for INTECOL’s International Wetland Conferences. Jenny has been a member of AFSS/ASL since 1978, she has held the positions of ASL President and Newsletter Editor, she was the inaugural recipient of the student-initiated Apple Prize (2005), and, together with Dr Jane Chambers, proposed and organised the first Lungfish Lecture in 2013.
Watching waterholes: tracking the hydrological and ecological processes supporting freshwater refugia in a warming world
At a time when the world is facing major environmental threats, including global warming and biodiversity loss, it is heartening to know that there are some places where freshwater ecosystems, and the plants and animals they support, are largely intact. Watarrka National Park, in central Australia, is one of these places. The Park waterholes represent ecological and evolutionary refugia, containing endemic, rare and relictual species of plants and invertebrates. They also act as biodiversity hotspots for terrestrial species and contribute to ecological processes that extend far beyond their small areal extent. Given the extreme seasonal and inter-annual climatic variability of the Australian arid zone, it was clear that long term records were needed to understand the processes that support waterhole persistence and, given the remoteness and inaccessibility of the sites, motion sensitive cameras appeared to be the most suitable approach for data collection. In 2014, Reconyx cameras were deployed at four sites representing water regimes ranging from permanently wet (groundwater-fed) to usually dry (rainfall-fed). Now, in the eleventh year of continuous recording, it is evident that these cameras provide an enormous amount of hydrological and ecological information. The impacts an intensive drought (in 2019), elevated summer temperatures, and recent major floods, on faunal assemblages and interactions, and waterhole flora, have been documented. This dataset is now supplemented by a wider geographic study using isotope hydrology to determine the relative contribution of old (groundwater) and new (rainfall) water sources. We have also used eDNA to characterise biodiversity across multiple trophic levels. NT Parks and Wildlife now use the camera data to inform management and conservation of the Park’s biodiversity. Finally, as my involvement comes to an end, I am planning to make the one million plus accumulated images freely available to interested researchers, and to create a 24/7 waterhole live-stream.