Ground storey vegetation species cover data (species x percent cover) collected as part of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) Flow-MER program in the Murray-Darling Basin. The CEWH’s Flow-MER program examines the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and is assisting the CEWH to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation is focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. This Flow-MER data set includes and extends the long-term data collected at the same sites during the Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) project (2014-2019). ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office and Flow-MER program acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We respect their continuing connection to culture and Country, and we thank them for their knowledge and science and the values reflected in these data. Data provided by Flow-MER program Selected Area teams: Junction of the Warrego and Darling Rivers and Gwydir river system (University of New England), Lachlan river system (University of Canberra), Murrumbidgee river system (Charles Sturt University), Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system (Charles Sturt University), Goulburn River (Arthur Rylah Institute). ###Citation CEWH (2024) Vegetation Species Abundance. Flow-MER Program. Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Sourced from https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/flow-mer-vegetation-species-abundance on [date-sourced].

Counts of seedling recruitment in vegetation plots collected as part of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) Flow-MER program in the Murray-Darling Basin. The CEWH’s Flow-MER program examines the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and is assisting the CEWH to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation is focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. This Flow-MER data set includes and extends the long-term data collected at the same sites during the Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) project (2014-2019). ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and Flow-MER program acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We respect their continuing connection to culture and Country and we thank them for their knowledge and science and the values reflected in these data. ###Citation CEWH (2024) Vegetation Recruitment. Flow-MER Program. Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Sourced from https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/flow-mer-vegetation-recruitment on [date-sourced].

Water quality parameters that are measured by field teams at various sampling points within the Murray-Darling Basin on discrete dates as part of the CEWH's Flow-MER program. Includes measures of: * discharge * ecosystem respiration * gross primary productivity * water velocity * chlorophyll a * total nitrogen * nitrate and nitrite * ammonium * total phosphorus * filterable reactive phosphorus * dissolved organic carbon The CEWH’s Flow-MER program examines the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and is assisting the CEWH to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation is focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. This Flow-MER data set includes and extends the long-term data collected at the same sites during the Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) project (2014-2019). ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and Flow-MER program acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We respect their continuing connection to culture and Country, and we thank them for their knowledge and science and the values reflected in these data. ###Citation CEWO (2024) Water Quality Measurements. Flow-MER Program. Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Sourced on from https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/flow-mer-water-quality on [date-sourced].

The Biodiversity component of the LTIM Project evaluated the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to achieving diversity-related objectives of the Basin Plan by undertaking a qualitative evaluation of expected outcomes of watering actions undertaken by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office (CEWO). The CEWO’s LTIM Project focused on examining the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan), while assisting the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation was focused in seven Selected Areas:were the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. These areas will continue to be monitored through the CEWO’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MER) Program. Data collected by monitoring at Selected Areas is used to evaluate local outcomes from watering and also contributed to the analysis and evaluation of Basin Plan objectives. The main data output of the Biodiversity evaluation is an aggregated list of species and communities that potentially benefitted from Commonwealth environmental water from 2014-15 to 2018-19. This is derived from other Basin Matter reports (Vegetation, Fish, Ecosystem Diversity), Selected Area monitoring, the Atlas of Living Australia and monitoring programs external to LTIM (e.g. the Living Murray, Bird Life Australia). Please refer to the Murray-Darling Basin LTIM Project: 2018-19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Biodiversity Report for the detailed method on data used for evaluation.

Spatial data set of valley boundaries in the Murray-Darling Basin used to support the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder’s (CEWH) monitoring, evaluation and research activities. Modified from the Sustainable Rivers Audit (SRA) valleys to partition the Selected Areas used in the Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) project and Flow-MER program and to align with water accounting in the Basin. The CEWH’s Flow-MER program examines the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and is assisting the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. For more information and reporting using these data see https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/cewo-mer-program. ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office and Flow-MER program acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We respect their continuing connection to culture and Country, and we thank them for their knowledge and science and the values reflected in these data. ###Citation CEWH Flow-MER (2023) CEWH Murray-Darling Basin valley boundaries. Flow-MER Program. Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Sourced from https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/cewo-mdb-valleys on [date-sourced].

The Biodiversity component of the LTIM Project evaluated the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to achieving diversity-related objectives of the Basin Plan by undertaking a qualitative evaluation of expected outcomes of watering actions undertaken by the CEWO. The CEWO’s LTIM Project focused on examining the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan), while assisting the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation was focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. These areas will continue to be monitored through the CEWO’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MER) Program. Data collected by monitoring at Selected Areas is used to evaluate local outcomes from watering and also contributed to the analysis and evaluation of Basin Plan objectives. The main data output of the Biodiversity evaluation is an aggregated list of species and communities that potentially benefitted from Commonwealth environmental water from 2014-15 to 2018-19. This is derived from other Basin Matter reports (Vegetation, Fish, Ecosystem Diversity), Selected Area monitoring, the Atlas of Living Australia and monitoring programs external to LTIM (e.g. the Living Murray, Bird Life Australia). Please refer to the Murray-Darling Basin LTIM Project: 2018-19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Biodiversity Report for the detailed method on data used for evaluation. ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We thank them for their knowledge and science and respect their continuing connection to culture and Country and the values reflected in these data.

Fish larvae counts from light traps and drift nets collected as part of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office's (CEWO) Flow-MER program in the Murray-Darling Basin. Spawning of both native and introduced species was measured by collecting eggs and fish larvae using drift nets and light traps during the known spawning period at five Selected Areas (Edward/Kolety–Wakool River System, Goulburn River, Lachlan River System, Lower Murray River, Murrumbidgee River). Bongo tow nets, rather than drift nets, were used to sample pelagic fish in the Lower Murray River due to very slow flow velocities. The CEWO’s Flow-MER program examines the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and is assisting the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. For more information and reporting using these data see https://www.dcceew.gov.au/water/cewo/monitoring/mer-program. This Flow-MER data set includes and extends the long-term data collected at the same sites during the Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) project (2014-2019). ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office and Flow-MER program acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We respect their continuing connection to culture and Country, and we thank them for their knowledge and science and the values reflected in these data. ###Citation CEWO (2024) Fish Fish Larvae. Flow-MER Program. Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Sourced on from https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/flow-mer-fish-larvae on [date-sourced].

For more information and publications that use Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder's (CEWH) shared data please visit: https://www.dcceew.gov.au/cewh/manage-water/science-monitoring/science-programs ---- and https://flow-mer.org.au ----

The Hydrology theme evaluates the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to flow regimes and hydrological connectivity across the Basin, which also underpins the evaluation of ecological outcomes for other ecological indicators evaluated at the Basin scale (Fish, Vegetation, Ecosystem Diversity, Stream Metabolism and Water Quality, and Biodiversity). The CEWO’s LTIM Project examined the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and assisted the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation was focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. These areas will continue to be monitored through the CEWO’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MER) Program. Data collected by monitoring at Selected Areas is used to evaluate local outcomes from watering and also contributed to the analysis and evaluation of Basin Plan objectives. Please refer to the Murray-Darling Basin LTIM Project: 2018-19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Hydrology Report for the detailed method on data used for evaluation. ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We thank them for their knowledge and science and respect their continuing connection to culture and Country and the values reflected in these data.

Colonial waterbird breeding colonies monitored in two Selected Areas of the CEWH’s Flow-MER program (the Murrumbidgee river system and Lachlan river system). These are overall statistics of the colony size (nests/individuals) and start and end dates with estimated breeding success for colonies where detailed nest observations are conducted. The CEWH’s Flow-MER program examines the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and is assisting the CEWH to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation is focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. This Flow-MER data set includes and extends the long-term data collected at the same sites during the Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) project (2014-2019). ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and Flow-MER program acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We respect their continuing connection to culture and Country, and we thank them for their knowledge and science and the values reflected in these data. ###Citation CEWO (2024) Waterbird Diversity. Flow-MER Program. Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Sourced on from https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/flow-mer-waterbird-breeding-colonies on [date-sourced].