Sediment nutrient transport and budgetting

"June 2001".

Project Number: Review Catchment Science.

MDFRC item.

Technical Reports in this series are: No. 18: Land use and catchment water balance: Tom Hatton. No. 19: Catchment solute balance: Glen Walker. No. 20: Sediment nutrient transport and budgeting: Chris Moran (and contributors). No. 21: Integrated catchment science: Rob Vertessy.

The study of catchments has been part of the core business of CSIRO for many years. In not small part due to this research, Australia is more aware of our natural legacy, the importance of our catchments to our well being, the profound changes in catchment function and health we have brought about, and the opportunities and challenges ahead. Catchment science embodies diverse fields of research, from detailed physics and chemistry, to biology and ecology, to mathematics and statistics, to sociology and economics. The integration of this knowledge is itself a science. The provision of sound technical underpinning to catchment management is a continuing and rewarding scientific challenge. CSIRO Land and Water maintains a strong commitment to catchment science in aid of improving the lives of Australians and their environment. Part of that commitment involves reviewing our recent scientific accomplishments, our current research portfolio, and the direction our research needs to take into the future. This series captures CSIRO Land and Water research in catchment science since 1993, some of the current directions, and where our research should take us. We hope that this serves as basis for continual discussion and active debate on the nature and value of science to issues of high national importance like the health of our catchments.