REMAKING WETLANDS - Rethinking Invasion Ecologies from the Environmental Humanities - page 218

economics, a key part of which was research on pests (Robin, 1997: 69-73;
Dunlap, 1997: 77-81). The work and lives of these two biologists also provide
lenses into changing ideas of pests and conservation: from Kinghorn's zoological
research with the Australian Museum to Frith's explicitly ecological work for the
Wildlife Survey Section of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation (CSIRO). Through their research, we can gain insight into some of
the complexities at the interface between wildlife and agriculture as each negotiated
conflicting understandings of how ducks could and could not be accommodated
within farmland.
Most importantly, this chapter examines some of the changes brought on by the
intensification and expansion of irrigated agriculture in the twentieth century,
which by degrees changed the water landscapes of the Murrumbidgee, Australia
and, indeed, the world. Since rice was first grown commercially under extensive
irrigation in the MIA, water diversion for flooded rice paddy irrigation has meant
that these agricultural landscapes have sometimes 'replaced' original wetland habitat
for animals such as ducks. The expansion of agriculture changed wetland environ-
ments and so reconfigured possibilities for animals and plants, with a range of mixed
outcomes for all those involved.
Background: Murrumbidgee River, ducks, and rice
The Murrumbidgee River is a major tributary of the Murray River, located in the
south-east of the Murray-Darling Basin. Like other rivers in the Murray system,
snowmelt in the southern parts of the Great Dividing Range contributes to seasonal
inflows in the winter and spring months and sometimes to large floods when these
are accompanied by substantial rain. The Murrumbidgee and its tributaries can,
however, flood at any time from heavy rainfall, as they did in March 2012. During
floods, biodiversity and populations of particular species increase in wetlands,
along rivers and on floodplains, as floods trigger breeding cues for many plants and
animals. The Murrumbidgee River and its floodplains can also experience periods
of intense drying, lasting years, as they did in some places in the region from 2000
to 2010 (Pittock et al ., 2006: 17-18; Drendel, 2011).
The populations and movements of most species of native ducks are
considerably influenced by these wet and dry periods. These ducks are, in varying
degrees, nomadic; that is, rather than having a seasonal migration, for example, as
ducks in North America do, they flock to rivers and wetlands that are in flood, to
feed, nest and breed. The species of duck that visit the Murrumbidgee region
include the Grey Teal ( Anas gracilis ), which are extremely nomadic and which can
fly large distances to flooded waterways and wetlands (Roshier, 2009: 76-78;
Kinghorn, 1932: 603; Frith, 1957a: 33; Curtin and Kingsford, 1997: 3). Other
species are the Pacific Black Duck ( Anas superciliosa ); the Pink-eared Duck
( Malacorhynchus membranaceus ); the Australian Wood Duck (Maned Goose,
Chenonetta jubata , which is actually closer to species of geese than ducks); the
Australian Shelduck (Mountain Duck, Tadorna tadornoides ); and the Plumed