Bulletin

Issue: January/February 2007

News

Floods in an arid continent

Fifty years after the great Murray- Darling Flood, the river system now faces one of its greatest droughts.

To drive home the vagaries of our climate and help manage our fragile ecology, La Trobe’s Dr Aldo Poiani has edited a new book, Floods in an Arid Continent.

A zoologist, senior lecturer and coordinator of science programs on the Mildura campus, Dr Poiani says the floods of 1956 were the worst in the Murray-Darling that century, with thousands of people fighting to save their homes.

The book is published by Academic Press in its Advances in Ecological Research series. It was released late last year to coincide with the 50th anniversary commemoration of the floods.

It covers topics such as the climatic background to floods in Australia, and the ways in which they both damage and replenish the land. Chapters detail a wide range of effects, from the economic and social impact of floods to their consequences for landscape, bird life, and infectious disease - and how they have shaped Aboriginal myth.

Dr Poiani specialises in the evolutionary and behavioural ecology of birds and their beneficial use in agriculture. He plays a leading role in the Riverlink Postgraduate Research Network, which collaborates with local industries in Mildura.

He was a member of the Murray- Darling Association steering committee for commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Murray- Darling floods.