Our landscapes, and the plants and animals that live there, are constantly changing. Keeping track of species sightings, plant communities and other information is vital to make sure we can identify and protect threatened species and maintain our biodiversity to its fullest.
The challenge
Managing biodiversity data for the entire state of New South Wales is a challenging process. Many different types of species data come from a wide range of sources, with some sources more reliable than others.
Once any data is submitted, someone needs to review the information and decide how to store it, how to make sure the data is sufficiently reliable, and how to make it accessible to those who need it.
Maintaining accurate records and managing such a large amount of data takes a lot of computing power and hard work from dedicated staff members.
Our response
Our scientists at the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water developed NSW BioNet, a vast, ever-growing database collection that underpins everything we know about biodiversity in New South Wales. It holds records of species sightings and other data to pinpoint the ‘where’, ‘when’, and ‘how many’ for plants and animals across the state.
‘We have something like 20 million records of species sightings,’ says Philip Gleeson, Senior Wildlife Data Officer with the department. Although BioNet has only been operating for a few decades, he says it contains data that stretches ‘all the way back to 1770’.
All this biodiversity data feeds into important decision-making processes for environmental protection and planning, such as:
- developers preparing environmental impact statements
- national park managers preparing bushfire management plans
- scientists researching specific biodiversity-related questions, such as species recovery in an area following a natural disaster.
The impact of BioNet
The results of this case study are demonstrated by its impact. BioNet’s data is incredibly versatile. It has provided vital information across a wide range of contexts and has proven to be essential for local government planning and compliance teams. It guides decision-making by providing reliable species information, crucial for assessing any planning works that affect habitats in urban or bushland areas.
For example, BioNet is integral in developing and reviewing Biodiversity Assessment Reports. These are required for proposed building works and often based on statistical modelling to understand species present in an area and whether they are classified as under threat.
Since BioNet’s data relies on actual observations, report reviewers can use that data to find out whether any statistical modelling work is accurate or if more assessment work needs to be carried out.
It’s critical for other biodiversity assessment work too, for example, one local government compliance and regulation team member described BioNet as ‘the one stop source for threatened species information when undertaking any assessments under the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme’.
Next steps
Work is underway to improve how people submit data to BioNet. Currently, species sightings are recorded in simple text files that are manually submitted to the database for inclusion. A more user-friendly app, for example, would make it easier for everyone from scientists to members of the public to submit data and have it included appropriately in BioNet.
This would be invaluable to improve the experience for the many citizen scientists who already voluntarily contribute data to BioNet because ‘they know it has real-world impacts in the environment,’ says Mr Gleeson.
