Aquatic biodiversity assessment

Dr Shiel is Australia’s foremost expert of rotifers (microscopic animals that live in freshwater and seawater) and cladocerans (tiny aquatic crustaceans often called water fleas). They are two of the most abundant groups of aquatic micro invertebrates and help to monitor change in our waterways-Atlas of Living Australia “Changes in aquatic microfauna can be due to perturbations downstream of mining discharges, secondary salinisation in wetlands or in response to environmental watering and flooding, among other things,” Dr Shiel said