Earthmatters

In a provocative paper, titled 'Turning over a new leaf: the role of novel riparian ecosystems in catchment management', authors Samantha Capon, and Gary Palmer, examine research done on Novel riparian ecosystems.  These ecosystems host new combinations of species – some might call invasive species – with natural areas affected by human infrastructure.  While posing numerous risks to riverine biodiversity and ecosystems, novel riparian ecosystems can also have many beneficial effects at local and catchment scales and may help address critical river management problems, e.g. bank erosion, degraded water quality. Capon and Palmer feel that conventional management approaches (for example, weed control and eradication) can be ineffective, expensive, time consuming and associated with a range of unintended outcomes (such as, soil disturbance, habitat loss etc.).    Samantha Capon is a Senior Lecturer with the School of Environment and Science at Griffith University and the Australian Rivers Ins