Data collection and management
Ecological research in Australia generates extensive and complex sets of data critical to informing sustainable natural resource management decisions.
The department, including the State Herbarium, is primarily responsible for managing and maintaining the state's core biodiversity data in collaboration with the SA Museum. Together we maintain the state's reference collections of plants and animals, which support the department's biological databases. The department, along with universities and other research institutions, also has a significant role in gathering and analysing data.
As South Australia embraces an ecologically sustainable future all sources of biodiversity data must be made more accessible for critical analyses and decision making.
The department has the primary responsibility in the government of South Australia for:
- collecting, storing, maintaining, reporting and distributing South Australia's biodiversity information
- encouraging high standards of biodiversity data management across the community
- ensuring appropriate scientific and ethical standards are met for diversity research and data collection.
In addition to these responsibilities the department actively develops tools for the collection, validation, discovery and analysis of biodiversity information.
The department regularly provides copies of species observation records from the Biological Databases of South Australia to a number of agencies and institutions. In addition, we currently have exchange agreements and initiatives through Atlas of Living Australia and Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network.
Methodologies
During project design it is worth considering the suitability of existing methodologies. Some methodologies currently in use are described in the following documents:
- Guide to a Native Vegetation Survey Using the Biological Survey of SA
- Guidelines for Vertebrate Surveys in South Australia Using the Biological Survey of South Australia
- Pastoral Lease Assessment in SA (includes Jessup transects)
- Reconnaissance land unit mapping for planning and decision making.
- Native vegetation assessments(includes Scattered Tree Assessment, Bushland Assessment, Rangelands Assessment)
- Bushland Condition Monitoring
For more information or support in contributing to the statewide databases please contact us at DEWBioDataSupport@sa.gov.au.