The ecological and biodiversity conservation values of farm dams: A systematic review

dams commonly being studied in conjunction with water birds, (4), amphibians (4), macroin- vertebrates (3), and water quality (2). Six ecological studies explored the influence of water quality on the biodiversity value as well as the factors affecting water quality in farm dams. Eight studies found surrounding land use had the biggest influence on water quality with cattle and chemical run off decreasing water quality. Three studies found the characteristics of the surrounding landscape influenced water quality. Two of these studies showed that the presence of surrounding, fringing and sub- merged macrophytes improved water quality while the other study found the presence of over- hanging woody vegetation (i.e., shade trees and shrubs) and an increased influx of sediment from the surrounding paddocks decreased water quality. Of the 29 studies with objectives that included production outcomes, 14 examined water quality, with eight finding intensive land use, such as grazing and cropping, had a negative effect on the water quality of dams. Four found the presence of vegetation in dams improved water quality. Two studies looked at water quality as a predictor of biodiversity and found that dams with a higher quality of water (i.e., less heavy metals, nitrogen and phosphorus) were positively correlated with an increase in macrophyte species richness. 4. Discussion We reviewed 104 articles examining biodiversity values of farm dams. Our systematic review highlighted the attention given by researchers to the study of farm dams as potential habitats

Fig 5. Heatmap showing the taxon studied and the predictor variable used. The darker colours represent a higher number of articles. Each paper may be represented in more than one category. Category definitions can be found in S1 Appendix. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303504.g005 PLOS ONE The ecological and biodiversity conservation values of farm dams PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303504 May 13, 2024 10 / 18