Biodiversity is intimately related to the landscape and one of the primary requirements for improving and maintaining biodiversity is a detailed knowledge base of where the plants, animals and ecological communities are located. Information that describes the plants and animals of the State, both marine and terrestrial, has been being recorded for over a hundred years. Field naturalists, tertiary and research institutes have contributed to this knowledge. Satellite imagery and other forms of remote sensing have further enhanced the traditional sources of data.

Victoria has excellent databases that cover many aspects of our biodiversity and use state-of-the-art systems to analyse, display and map the State’s terrestrial and freshwater flora and fauna. Three million records collectively contained in the Atlas of Victorian Wildlife, Victorian Flora Information System and Wetlands databases provide comprehensive information on plant and animal distribution which is constantly being updated. The Site Register focusses on alerting land managers and developers to the management issues at sites with significant flora and fauna. The ability to utilise this information for planning and management purposes will be enhanced as these databases are integrated with other major Geographic Information System (GIS) datasets held in NRE’s extensive Corporate Geospatial Data Library. These data sets include fire history, Ecological Vegetation Classes, Public Land Boundaries, roads and streams. Information from the GIS Library can be overlaid, allowing detailed analysis and presentation for biodiversity management and monitoring.

An interactive system has been developed to enable the precise locations of all flora and fauna data to be plotted onto a 1:100 000 scale, high quality map series called BioMap. BioMap accesses data directly from NRE’s Corporate Geospatial Data Library and allows some 6000 combinations of user-definable map themes to be selected. These maps allow the information to be presented to local government and others in a form suitable for planning and management purposes and can be used as a reference source. Real-time World Wide Web (WWW) mapping systems, which display the distribution of rare or threatened flora and fauna along with a description of their FFG and Rare or Threatened status, are currently being developed.

New technologies such as PC-based GIS, the WWW and CDROM mean that data can, in time, be made readily accessible to land managers and the public. CDs using an interactive display combined with high quality pictures and a description for each species have been produced for Victorian plants, butterflies and fish.

Technological advances will also provide the means to promote a greater understanding of complex ecological and natural systems processes — for example fire and its role in determining vegetation mosaics in the landscape.

The use of computer simulations to predict the effects of global warming through the enhanced greenhouse effect on the distribution of selected fauna demonstrated the value of such techniques. Such work is being refined and extended to predicting the occurrence of existing and developing habitat for important species (e.g. forest owls in the North East). Future computer modelling and remote sensing will be critical in enhancing both our understanding and our capacity to monitor management responses to conserving biodiversity assets. The results of these studies need to be presented in useable forms for the policy makers, land and water managers and the public.

Key Directions

• Maintain and improve the coverage and quality of current databases on the distribution, conservation status and management requirements of native plants and animals species. Finalise coverage of critical state-wide databases, e.g. Ecological Vegetation Class mapping.
• Facilitate wide and innovative access to biodiversity data for planners and managers, industry and the community.
• Utilise and develop biodiversity and other databases to increase our understanding of critical stages in the life histories of native plant and animal species and of ecological processes across the Victorian land and seascapes.