Principles for management before, during and
after drought
Underpinning drought management strategies should
be the recognition that in their natural state, Australia’s aquatic ecosystems and their biota have the
capacity to recover from drought. As already discussed, historically, this capacity was ensured by the
fact that even during severe droughts, some refuge
habitats persisted, and the biota that survived in these
areas were able to breed and repopulate other areas as
drought broke, often, as is the case with La Nin ˜a
events, with the onset of flooding (Lake, 2003).