Assessing the ecological health of rivers when they are dry

We conclude that terrestrial invertebrates in this study are suitable indicators of dry riverbed health, as they are impacted by disturbance from livestock and feral mammals. They can be used in the same way that indicators, such as aquatic macroinvertebrates, are traditionally used to assess river health. We also successfully combined indicators of wet and dry habitats to provide a holistic assessment of the health of intermittent river ecosystems incorporating all sections of the river network. We suggest that this approach should be adopted by other river health monitoring programs in rivers around the world.