Animals from the Desert Refuge Wolf spider Desert goby Mud grasshopper Black-fronted dotterel Freshwater isopod Plague rat Desert tree frog

Desert Refuges

In the desert, animals and plants are adapted to dry conditions. But there are some special places in the desert where water can always be found. These places can be called desert hiding places or desert refuges.

Nature makes some desert refuges. Natural springs occur in some parts of the desert. Pools remain in some rivers even when most of the river has dried up. Humans make more refuges by drilling bores, digging wells and dams or constructing earth tanks.

The river has dried up but the waterholes remain.	Can you see any evidence that this waterhole is a reliable water supply? Eringa waterhole, 26o17'S 134o43'E. Photo: D Hirst, March 1993

Where does the water come from?

Much of the water in refuges in the Australian desert comes from underground.

Here is how it works:

In places where cracks let water escape from the Great Artesian Basin, springs form. Mounds of minerals and mud can form at the edges of these springs. Mound springs can grow 10 metres high.

These refuges are very important.

Some kinds of animals are only found in their particular mound springs!

Bores and springs

In the Lake Eyre basin, many birds rely on bores made by people for their desert refuges.

People are now putting caps on bores to save water. The mound springs should be protected for the animals that need desert refuges.

The fragile ecology of this mound spring has been disrupted by drinking cattle. Fencing springs can protect them from damage. Photo: W Zeidler, 1991	Plenty of water in the desert. Blanche Cup is a desert refuge. Photo: W Zeidler, 1991

The animals that live in desert refuges

• have plenty of water
• sometimes have too much salt.

Dead and alive Hamilton Hill, the mound spring on the left is dead. Water no longer flows. Blanche Cup, on the right, is still flowing and growing. Photo: W Zeidler, 1991

Vegetation The warm salty waters of mound springs support the growth of both microscopic and larger, string-like algae. The springs are surrounded by dense thickets of reeds, rushes and sedges. As water flows from the springs it evaporates, leaving salty trails and flats. Plants known as samphires can grow here because they have special features to survive the very salty conditions. Hardy Melaleuca paperbarks may also be scattered through wetter areas.