A great egret looks for breakfast at Calamvale Creek

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Photo acknowledgment

Many historical photos of the Golden Pond wetland system on this website were kindly provided by Associate Professor Margaret Greenway and Research Assistant Carolyn Polson from the School of Environmental Engineering at Griffith University. We thank them greatly.

Aerial photographs came from the Department of Natural Resources.

We also thank Ross Bomf and any photographers whose names we do not know if we have used their photographs without specific acknowledgment.

Using our photos

Photos on this website are copyright. If you want to use any, email us at: creeklife@gmail.com

Mosquitoes not a problem at Golden Pond

People often fear that constructed wetlands may encourage mosquitoes to breed.

But researchers from Griffith University found an extremely small number of mosquito larvae in a 12-month sample at Golden Pond.

Mosquito larvae are a natural part of the food web in aquatic ecosystems. They provide food for microcrustaceans and notonectids (aquatic carnivorous insects).

They become a problem only if larvae survive and adults emerge from pupae.

In the Golden Pond samples, only low numbers of mosquito larvae were detected, and these were generally in their early stages.

No pupae were found, which indicates that the larvae did not complete their life cycle, and small predators were effective in keeping them under control.

Critters of Calamvale Creek

The wetlands — the early days and now

Here are some photos that show the changing face of Calamvale's Golden Pond wetland sytem. Wetland 1 is on the northern side of Golden Avenue, with the sediment basin. Wetland 2 is on the southern side, and runs into a riparian wetland and a natural creek with lagoons. (See map.)

Golden Pond Wetland 1

golden_pond_site_looking_toward_wetland (67K)

The photo above shows the site of Wetland 1 before construction. It faces the Golden Avenue bridge, and was probably taken in the mid-1990s.

golden_pond_May2007_looking_toward_wetland (46K)

… and this photo shows roughly the same site as it looked late in the afternoon on May 4, 2007. The near pond of water is the sediment basin. Behind it is Wetland 1, and the Golden Avenue bridge is slightly above and to the right of the photo's centre.

Golden Pond Wetland 2

Hist_wetland_2_farm_dam (50K)

Above: This was the small farm dam as it looked in the early 1990s before it became Golden Pond Wetland 2.

wetland_2_May_2007 (55K)

… and this is the same area, now Wetland 2, as it looked late in the afternoon of May 4, 2007.

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