Research on
internationally recognised, Ramsar listed saline
wetlands of the Coorong Lakes system, South
Australia, showed that almost all species found in
25 salt lakes studied were halophilic crustaceans
(De Deckker, Geddes 1980). Our data showed that
even though the experimentally increased salinity
levels (300, 5000 and 15 000 mg dm-3) were in
fact lower than the current salinity recorded at
both Mandina and KC-road wetlands, it did not
necessarily replenish the freshwater community.
A decrease in taxon richness associated with salinity
increases was not signifi cant for sediment taken
from the Mandina wetland, suggesting that long
term salinisation in this wetland had affected the
longevity of egg banks which further resulted in
very few zooplankton emerging from the artifi cially
fl ooded sediment, even at the lowest salinity. We
suggested that salinisation at Mandina and KCRoad
may have contributed to the low number of
taxa emerging rather than the effect of short term
artifi cially elevated salinity. It has been suggested
that the ability of a particular salinised wetland to
replenish a freshwater community will not only
depend on restoring the wetland to freshwater condition
but also depend on the capacity of the wetland
to preserve freshwater species (Nielsen et al. 2008).
Long term salinisation impacts on zooplankton
communities. It has been reported that there was a
declineof faunal diversity following the increase of
salinity from about 10 g dm-3 to 30 g dm-3 within
40 years (Aladin 1991).