emerged from wetlands sediment. This is further
strengthened by the results of the elevated salinity
experiment where fewer species emerged from Willalooka
wetlands sediment as salinity increased from
300 to 5000 and 15 000 mg dm-3. In other studies of
species richness-salinity relationships, it has been
suggested that zooplankton diversity will be affected
once salinity reaches 1000 mg dm-3 (Hart et al. 1991;
2003; Nielsen et al. 2003b). In this study, a signifi -
cant decreased in taxa number and abundance were
observed as salinity increased from 300 to 5000 mg
dm-3 and continued to decrease once salinity rose
above 5000 mg dm-3, suggesting a salinity threshold
of between 300 and 5000 mg dm-3. The salinity
threshold range between 300 and 5000 mg dm-3 was
too wide, suggesting that more works is needed to
narrow down the range.