Australia - Department Of Biodiversity, Conservation And .

Western Australia has the longest historical record of biodiversity exploration and biodiversity data inAustralia, dating at least to Vlamingh’s and Dampier’s visits and biodiversity collecting in the Swan River andShark Bay in the late 1600s. This talk will provide a historical overview of biodiversity data and informatics inthe largest state in Australia, and discuss significant achievements and issues, with a particular focus on plantdata. An enormous amount of biodiversity data has been collected in WA over 300 years, from the earliestspecimens during the phase of European exploration, through active government and citizen science projectsin the 20th Century, to significant industry investment particularly during the years of the resource boom, andcontinuing. While much has been achieved, many challenges remaining in making the best use of, andmobilising, these data in the service of research, development and conservation.

WA is a big and a marvellous place! Facing the Indian Ocean, it boasts the longest coastline of anystate and almost 1/3 of Australia’s maritime exclusive economic zone. Its marine environmentextends from the tropical north to the cool temperate south and these waters support a highdiversity of marine habitats and organisms, including numerous unique species. Two of Australia’sfour marine-based World Heritage areas and two of five bioregions are off our coast. WA is alsohome to eight of Australia’s 15 biodiversity hotspots. But compared to many other marineenvironments, scientific exploration of WA’s marine environment has been limited as our coastlinehas only been subjected to European settlement and industrialisation for approximately 200 years.However, over the past decades, WA has experienced one of the most significant and protractedperiods of private capital investment in its history. Investment in the expansion of existing, and thedevelopment of new, resource projects (primarily iron and offshore oil and gas) is resulting inmassive off-shore infrastructure expansion, the development of new ports and increased vesselmovements, as well as fuelling unprecedented population growth.The State’s biodiversity is an important asset that must be carefully managed and protected forfuture generations. A deeper understanding of the natural environment will mitigate the impact ofhuman activity, create knowledge that can be harnessed to pursue bio-technological advances andassist in the protection and conservation of WA habitats. In the absence of sound scientificknowledge, poor understanding of the WA marine environment poses risks, such as irreparableenvironmental damage caused by ill-informed decisions.Western Australia has a significant biodiversity research base in marine science and is fortunate tohave substantial public capability. The State Government plays a major role in managing theState’s biodiversity and its conservation, environment and collection agencies have considerableexpert science capabilities. Commonwealth, State, industry, businesses, academic organisationsand research institutions at the local level and worldwide are also working together to deliverlarge-scale marine research in multi-disciplinary and holistic ways, to address key oceanchallenges.With the enormous research effort occurring in WA, significant activities and growingcollaboration within WA’s data sector are being planned, or are currently underway, that have thepotential to establish WA as a world leader in data science innovation and expertise. The StateGovernment is supporting the growth of WA’s data sector through investment in radio astronomy,supercomputing and data linkage. Supercomputing is the key to capitalising on the opportunitiesoffered through data intensive science. The Pawsey Centre’s processing and storage capacity willsupport the State’s future computing requirements across each of the State Government’s fivescience priorities. The Pawsey Centre also offers training in bioinformatics, scientific computingskills providing opportunities to access careers in research and ICT in WA. Is this an opportunity forthe ALA to exploit?

Aggregated biological data that is widely and freely available provides an invaluable resource tounderpin the conservation of biological diversity. These data can be used directly by land managers,or by scientific researchers with the aim of informing land management decisions. While manybiodiversity aggregation databases are great at capturing the distribution of native collectionrecords, strong biases exist against non-native records. This, in part, relates to the type of datacurated and the biases of collectors, as well as the common rationales underpinning non-nativeobservation data. Given that non-native weeds represent one of the greatest threats to terrestrialbiodiversity, there are many reasons why we should be looking to improve our knowledge aboutjust where is weedy in Australia. Here we explore the historical context behind the currentavailability of non-native plant data and what it means for end users of that data. We outline ourfindings from a pilot study in the Pilbara where we showcase how aggregating disparate data onnon-native plants can provide unique insight to help land managers prioritise funding for weedcontrol. Lastly, we highlight how emerging changes in data collection and aggregation approachesmay provide a significant improvement on what is currently available.Bruce leads the Ecosystem Change Ecology Team based in Perth, Western Australia. This multidisciplinaryteam generates knowledge on the mechanistic links and synergistic interactions between landscape change,species invasions and native species decline in terrestrial ecosystems. Bruce leads research and developstheory to underpin more effective policy and management actions for conservation, invasion and productionchallenges in the face of rapid global change.1CSIRO Land & Water and CSIRO Health & Biosecurity, Private Bag 5, P.O. Wembley, WA 6913, AustraliaSchool of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia3School of Animal Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia4Western Australia Department of Parks & Wildlife, Dick Perry Ave, Kensington, WA 6151, Australia2

Since their foundation, the seven Western Australian Regional Natural ResourceManagement (NRM) Groups have placed high value on the use and further development ofbiodiversity information in their planning, programming and on-ground implementation.Equally, they have placed high value in avoidance of duplication, and in collaboration withexisting agencies and institutions that can be both the source and destination for biodiversitydata. This collaborative approach has resulted in hundreds of field projects incorporating andenriching extensive and rigorous biodiversity data – aimed at better knowledge, betterunderstanding, and better conservation outcomes.

The delivery of specimen data via the internet has revolutionised the effectiveness of targeted florasurveys for commercial projects in Western Australia. Queries on the known flora of a region andthe Australia-wide distributions of taxa can be discerned with a few key strokes, giving confidenceto consultants in the range of species that may encountered in a region and assisting with tentativeidentifications of unfamiliar taxa made in the field. The available data can also hint at likelytaxonomic anomalies and potential occurrence of new species and help resolve such issues. Geoffwill highlight how his organisation uses the Atlas of Living Australia in targeted surveys and outlinea wish list that could help improve the experience for the Environmental Consultancy Industry.

Western Australia has a long history of volunteerism and citizen science with some recentmilestones reached. Citizen Science project data contribution from WA to the ALA is reviewedand some suggestions for standard procedures to ensure citizen science data is well-formed,well-housed and retrievable into the future.p 61 8 9227 7309e alex.chapman@gaiaresources.com.au

Over a relatively short period, the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) has matured to provide the mostcomprehensive repository available of Australian biodiversity data, and arguably the world’s mostcapable online portal for querying, visualising and downloading biodiversity data. However, theALA creates no data – it sources its information from a wide variety of data-rich organisations,some of which already have mature portals, resulting in multiple portals publishing the same data,notable differences in detail, and occasional confusion as to the most appropriate portal to use.From its initial inception the ALA’s goal has been to complement existing biodiversity systems.Nevertheless, some organisations may question the business sense of maintaining their localportals in a challenging funding environment while the ALA is offering such exceptional capability.However, there are good reasons for organisations to maintain their existing investment. WhileALA and State portals may superficially appear to duplicate functions, the drivers for State-basedportals, particularly those with a regulatory or planning function, are different to the citizenscience and collections focus of the ALA, resulting in different approaches to data and users. Anecosystem of complementary portals provides better conservation outcomes than one-size-fits-all.This talk will discuss some of the comparative strengths of each portal and present guidelines toassist users in determining the most useful portal in situations such as environmental impactassessment, conservation planning and scientific research.

Collections of globally important species of high conservation value are held by the WesternAustralian Museum Department of Aquatic Zoology (AZ). The data associated with these specimens,colloquially referred to as TCLE taxa (Threatened, Critical, Listed or Endangered), from groups suchas giant clams, corals and sea cucumbers, hold important records of distribution in space and time.These historical records are critical for conservation managers to consider in attempts to monitor,assess, and potentially rehabilitate populations of threatened taxa in Australia. In 2014, WAM wasawarded a grant from the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) to database and mobilize taxa with highconservation profiles in the WAM AZ collections. This mobilisation or ‘unlocking’ of WAM collectiondata to the ALA website will place important historical collection information into the hands ofconservation managers and others for improved decision making. A total of 1257 specimens newlyregistered and 113 previously registered specimens with updated names have been added to WAMdatabase and uploaded to ALA.

Genetic data are maintained and made available to researchers by databases such as Genbank.These data are frequently accessed by researchers to supplement their own data, and are afundamental part of accessing difficult to sample organisms and placing research into broadercontexts. However, these data are not easily linked to the collections where the specimens weresourced. As such, errors in species identifications, higher systematic levels and genetic datathemselves can propagate in the published literature, create confusion, and impede decisionmaking for managers. Here we discuss these difficulties and identify how the Atlas of LivingAustralia could play a role in integrating collections and genetic data, making research moreefficient and more resilient to taxonomic change.