Assessing biodiversity
Assessing areas of high biodiversity plays a vital role in determining key areas for conservation and establishing conservation priorities.
Biodiversity significance is a ranking of an area according to specified values to account for rarity, diversity, fragmentation, habitat condition, resilience, threats, and ecosystem processes.
The more critical role an area or system plays for ecosystems, the more value it has in positively influencing biodiversity.
The value of an area is assessed on an extensive set of attributes such as relative size or condition, whether it is habitat for threatened species, or if it provides connectivity across the landscape.
In the terrestrial environment, current vegetation extent and regional ecosystem mapping defines remnant vegetation and pre-clearing vegetation. This provides an exceptional basis for comparing Queensland’s landscape before and after land-clearing and helps guide conservation efforts. Regional vegetation mapping uses satellite imagery, in combination with recent aerial photography and field-based information to confirm data accuracy.
- Biodiversity Planning Assessments (BAMM)
- BioCondition
- Terrestrial Vertebrate Fauna Survey Guidelines
Aquatic Conservation Assessments (AquaBAMM)
The department has developed a novel method for assessing conservation values of wetlands in Queensland. The Aquatic Biodiversity Assessment and Mapping Method (AquaBAMM) is a comprehensive method that identifies relative wetland conservation values within a specified study area (usually a catchment). The method is used to produce an Aquatic Conservation Assessment (ACA) of wetlands within a study area using available data including data resulting from expert opinion.
Biodiversity Planning Assessments (BAMM)
The Biodiversity Assessment and Mapping Methodology (BAMM) has been developed to provide a consistent approach for assessing biodiversity values at the landscape scale in Queensland. The BAMM is based on vegetation mapping from the Queensland Herbarium and incorporates a range of biodiversity-related data. The BAMM is focussed primarily on assessing terrestrial values. It is being used by the department to generate Biodiversity Planning Assessments (BPAs) for each of Queensland’s bioregions.
BioCondition
BioCondition is a vegetation condition assessment tool to measure how well a terrestrial ecosystem is maintaining biodiversity values at a local or property scale. In BioCondition, vegetation condition is referred to as ‘how much the attributes of a patch of vegetation differ from the attributes of the same vegetation type in its reference state’.
The Biodiversity Condition Toolkit for Grazed Lands, funded by Meat and Livestock Australia has been produced by the Queensland Herbarium in collaboration with Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). The toolkit aims to support land managers and facilitators, extension officers and Natural Resource Management groups involved in the management of grazing lands and biodiversity conservation within the Brigalow Belt and Mulga Lands of Southern Queensland. It provides some knowledge and insights on the plants and animals that cohabit with grazing stock in healthy grazing lands. Local examples from research and managers’ own experiences have been used to ensure relevance to the south west Queensland region.
Terrestrial Vertebrate Fauna Survey Guidelines
The Terrestrial Vertebrate Fauna Survey Guidelines for Queensland aim to provide a practical guide for the preparation, implementation and reporting of Queensland terrestrial vertebrate fauna surveys. These guidelines are designed for use by appropriately skilled people in Queensland preparing to undertake systematic and standardised terrestrial vertebrate fauna surveys for inventory, monitoring and/or research purposes.