Density of threatened and migratory species habitat distributions

##### Abstract The density of threatened and migratory species distributions grid is derived from the Department's Species of National Environmental Significance modelled distribution data. All threatened and most migratory species, for which Australia is part of the normal range, are modelled using three categories to indicate where their habitat is known, likely or may occur across Australia. The spatial input data was filtered using the following criteria: * Distributions for EPBC Act (1999) listed species that are Matters of National Environmental Significance (vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild or migratory – where mapped within the Australian context) * Contains ‘known’ and/or ‘likely to occur’ modelled habitat categories. Species with only ‘may occur’ habitat modelled are not included in the counts. * High-level habitat filtering based on taxonomy, EPBC Act status and traits to include only terrestrial species or species that have some portion of their lifecycle modelled in terrestrial (freshwater aquatic, estuarine, shore-based or intertidal) environments. This includes all plants (including mangroves), migratory marine species that have mapped breeding sites on land, such as marine turtles or birds, and any animals that move between freshwater, estuarine and marine environments. In some cases, for migratory birds, full range distributions are not mapped and only the known and likely breeding habitat is mapped on land. Where a broader distribution including marine habitats has been mapped, the known and likely categories have been clipped to the Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) GEODATA COAST 100K 2004. External territories and islands not present in the 100k coastline dataset are therefore not represented in this derived dataset. The number of overlaps for each distribution in the selected feature set were counted and gridded to a 0.01 decimal degree (~1km) cell size. For example, a value of 20 indicates that there is known or likely habitat for twenty threatened or migratory species modelled in that 1km square. Note projecting the data will alter the cell size. The counts do not necessarily indicate the presence of a species. Given the indicative nature of the input data, this dataset should be used only as guide showing the density of modelled terrestrial habitat of threatened and migratory species across Australia. Unsuitable habitat such as built-up or fire-affected areas are not necessarily removed from the input species distribution models. This is particularly true for broad-ranging species and for species where it is important to account for habitat fragmentation and fauna moving through the landscape. Modelled distributions may therefore encompass areas where a threatened species may not be found. The dataset is updated regularly to reflect updates to the Species of National Environmental Significance data. ##### Currency Date modified: 9 February 2026 Date published: 27 August 2024 Modification frequency: As needed ##### Data extent Spatial extent North: -9.14° South: -43.87° East: 153.64° West: 112.92° Coordinate reference: Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994 (GDA94, EPSG:4283) ##### Source information Click [here] to access the download. Click [here] to access the Image Service. ##### Lineage statement The density of threatened and migratory species distributions grid is derived from the Department's Species of National Environmental Significance distribution data. All threatened and most migratory species, for which Australia is part of the normal range, are modelled using three consistently applied categories to indicate where their habitat is known, likely or may occur across Australia. The distributions are stored in an enterprise GIS in vector format at multiple resolutions for analysis, display and application use. Spatial input data with a resolution of 0.01 decimal degree (~1km) was filtered using the following criteria: 1. Distributions for EPBC Act (1999) listed species that are Matters of National Environmental Significance (vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild or migratory – where mapped within the Australian context) 2. Contains ‘known’ and/or ‘likely to occur’ modelled habitat categories. Species with only ‘may occur’ habitat modelled are not included in the counts. 3. High level habitat typology filtering based on taxonomy, EPBC Act status and traits to include only terrestrial species or species that have some portion of their lifecycle modelled in terrestrial (freshwater aquatic, estuarine, shore-based or intertidal) environments. This includes all plants (including mangroves) migratory marine species that have mapped breeding sites on land, such as marine turtles or birds, and any animals that move between freshwater, estuarine and marine environments. In some cases, for migratory birds, full range distributions are not mapped and only the known and likely breeding habitat is mapped on land. Where a broader distribution including marine habitats has been mapped, the known and likely categories have been clipped to the Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) GEODATA COAST 100K 2004. External territories and islands not present in the 100k coastline dataset are therefore not represented in this derived dataset. The number of overlaps of distributions in the selected vector feature set were counted and gridded to a 0.01 decimal degree (~1km) cell size using the Count Overlapping Features and Polygon to Raster ArcGIS Pro 3.0.0 tools called from within an FME Form 2024.0 workbench. The CENTRE CELL method was used with no priority field set. The cell size projection method was also set to preserve resolution. A GDA94, 0.01 decimal degree snap raster with extent West -180.000000, East -179.990000, North 90.000000, South 89.990000 was used for gridding and generalising the raw data. The FME workbench will be rerun following updates to the list of threatened or migratory species under the EPBC Act. The resultant dataset will be published as web service on [https://fed.dcceew.gov.au/]. Given the indicative nature of the source data which includes models of a range of quality and currency, this output should be used as guide showing the relative density of modelled habitat for the set of species selected. ##### Data dictionary ───────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Attribute name │Description ───────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── OBJECTID │A unique system-generated identifier for each feature or record in the dataset. ───────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Name │The name of the dataset queried. ───────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Cateogry │Category classification. ───────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Service Pixel Value│The unique raster pixel value representing the mapped density or service-derived value for the feature. ───────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ##### Contact Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, [DigitalAtlas@ga.gov.au]