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].

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].

This data set extends the MDBA published Murray-Darling Basin managed floodplain (https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/murray-darling-basin-managed-floodplain) to include all areas watered with Commonwealth environmental water 2014-2021. Areas that are added are mapped by polygons from the ANAE classification of the Murray-Darling Basin data set that were identified as receiving inundation by Commonwealth environmental water by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder’s (CEWH) Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) project (2014-2019) and the first two years of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (Flow-MER) program. The MDBA published Murray-Darling Basin managed floodplain (https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/murray-darling-basin-managed-floodplain) is a spatial data set that estimates the extent of the Murray-Darling Basin that can be influenced by environmental water under the Basin Plan. It includes: * actively managed areas that can receive environmental water via large headwater storages or via The Living Murray ‘environmental works’ sites on the River Murray floodplain * passively managed areas that receive environmental water via flow rules in water resource plans or via natural events * areas that may be inundated with high flows if key constraints are overcome 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 on methods and reporting using these data see https://www.dcceew.gov.au/water/cewo/monitoring/mer-program ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and Flow-MER program participants 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 (2022) Flow-MER MDB managed floodplain. 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-managed-floodplain on [date-accessed]

Conservation of riverine and wetland vegetation diversity is a key objective of the Basin Plan, and was a core element investigated at the Basin-scale in the LTIM Project. 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. Vegetation diversity data was collected and used over the duration of the LTIM Project from 2014-15 to 2018-19 from four wetland Selected Areas (Gwydir, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee and junction of Warrego-Darling river systems) and two riverine Selected Areas (Edward/Kolety-Wakool and Goulburn river systems), considering plant species diversity and vegetation community diversity. Data collected* includes the percent cover of plant species present within three vegetation strata (groundlayer, understorey and overstorey) and a range of environmental variables (e.g. soil moisture) at time of sampling. *Data collected from the Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system is limited to Category 3 and does not have the same taxonomic resolution or range of observations as that from other Selected Areas. Please refer to the Murray-Darling Basin LTIM Project: 2018-19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Vegetation Diversity 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.

Frog diversity and abundance and tadpole counts are measured annually by the Flow-MER program in wetlands of the Murrumbidgee river system and Gwydir river system. An earlier contribution (2015) from the Lachlan River is also included. 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 Flow-MER (2023) Frog 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-frog-abundance 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 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.

The Stream Metabolism and Water Quality Basin Matter seeks to evaluate the influence of Commonwealth environmental water on two key ecological processes—primary production and decomposition—which have a profound effect on ecosystem character and condition. 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. Stream metabolism data was collected over the duration of the LTIM Project from 2014-15 to 2018-19 in six Selected Areas* (Edward/Kolety-Wakool, Lachlan, Goulburn, Murrumbidgee, Warrego-Darling and Lower Murray). *Stream metabolism is not a Category 1 indicator in the Gwydir Selected Area. Please refer to the Murray-Darling Basin LTIM Project: 2018-19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Stream Metabolism and Water Quality 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.

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 ----