Ecological data of fish, invertebrates and water quality in Broughton Creek, Shoalhaven River

This data contains raw fish and invertebrate assemblage counts and identification (family, genus and species levels), collected upstream and downstream across four flood mitigation drains and tributaries along Broughton Creek, Shoalhaven, NSW, Australia. It also contains, water quality variables for each tributary on each sampling occasion (pH, temperature, oxygen, salinity and turbidity). The study area contained, six tributaries or flood mitigation drains (approximately 3.5 m. deep x 8 m. wide) along a 3 km. section of Broughton Creek, including two drains without floodgates (reference drains), two drains with bi-directional smart gates targeted for mechanical rehabilitation, and two drains with non-operational smart gates (uni-directional/tidal restricting floodgates). Broughton Creek runs from near the town of Berry on the south coast of NSW and is a large, tidal tributary of the lower Shoalhaven River Estuary. The agricultural region has undergone significant hydrological alterations due to the construction of flood mitigation drainage networks. An active acid sulfate soil layer is situated approximately one metre below the soil surface throughout the study region. A 5 mm. seine net was hand pulled through 180 cubic metres of water for each sample.View this record in Research Data Australia