https://www.wildlifeacoustics.com

Australian LTERand its potential tocontribute to theAsia Pacific - BON

https://www.bushheritage.org.au/

Framing statement for AOGEO
Scaling up successful Earth Observation activities
for all of Asia-Oceania.
Presentation by :Associate Professor Mike Liddell
James Cook University
email: michael.liddell@jcu.edu.au
ph: 61 7 4232 1275

https://geobon.org/bons/national-regional-bon/Australian Long Term Ecological ResearchSome Background
Gosz 1996 TREE: International LTER: priorities and opportunities‘At this point, the following countries have established funded LTER programsthat are participating in an ILTER Network: Australia,…’
TERN LTER Network (LTERN) 2010 - 2017: A national network of 12 pre-existing
LTER sites – each LTERN plot network = multiple ILTER Satellite Sites

TERN Australian SuperSite Network 2010 - 2018:

A national network of pre-existing and new LTER sites that = ILTER Master Sites.

AusLTER 2019? -Planning is underway involving Ecological Society of Australia, Ecosystem Sciences
Council and TERN to establish AusLTER as a neutral, inclusive community of practice.
ESA will consult with the Australian LTER community to identify their wishes / needs
and provide non-financial support. Current planning is focused on developing awebsite for AusLTER to be hosted by ESA to serve as a communication vehicle.

TERN LTERNTERN LTER Network (LTERN) 2010 - 2017:

Data Collection: Plot network locations relative to Eco-Regions

LTERN Plot Network Monitoring Periods (years)
73

VICTORIAN ALPINE

54

CONNELL RAINFOREST

THREE PARKS SAVANNA FIRE-EFFECTS

2327

DESERT ECOLOGY46

TROPICAL RAINFOREST

13

DESERT UPLANDS

23

MALLEE

25

WOODLAND RESTORATION34

UPLAND HEATH SWAMPSJERVIS BAY BOODEREE NATIONAL PARK

1520

NANANGROE PLANTATION

VICTORIAN TALL EUCALYPT FOREST

340102030405060708025 Monitoring Themes

TERN Australian SuperSite Network
TERN Australian SuperSite Network 2010 - 2018:
Litchfield Savanna
Daintree Rainforest (Affiliate)1999 LTER
Robson Rainforest
Alice Mulga
Mitchell Grass Rangeland

Gingin Banksia Woodland
Great Western Woodlands
Calperum Mallee
Boyagin Wandoo Woodland
Wombat Stringy Bark Eucalypt

TERN SuperSite
Affiliate TERN SuperSite

Samford Peri-Urban (Affiliate)

Cumberland Plain
Tumbarumba Wet Eucalypt
Whroo Dry Eucalypt (Affiliate)

Warra Tall Eucalypt
1998 LTERTERN SuperSites was also avery successful component ofTERN. It was linked strongly toOzFlux. The joint networks
published a large number ofpapers and generated dataof wide use to the ecosystemcommunity. Strongly linked toremote sensing – reference sites.
TERN SuperSites was shut down
- no announcement of why- no publicity in 2018.

Data Collection: SuperSite locations – biome coverage

TERN SuperSite
Affiliate TERN SuperSite

TERN Ecosystem Processes Sites

What was a SuperSite?
Research Infrastructure1) An intensive field station in a typicaland important biome2) Physical instrumentation(Ozflux station as core)3) Scientists and technical support staff
to support Long Term monitoring
4) Transect or Contrasts (10- 400km)
5) Remote sensing(Auscover 5km x 5km is core)6) Ecophysiology
Consistent core measurements
Open dataWhat do we have now?
A LARGE NUMBER OF LTER ASSETS IN AUSTRALIAAll of the LTER sites that existed in LTERN and SuperSites are still in existence but many
have mothballed their programs.
Eucalypt Woodlands, 3 Parks Savanna Vegetation fire plots, Desert Uplands.
David Lindenmayer has successfully managed to maintain activity at his 3 plot networks
through chasing down external funding.
Most ex-TERN LTERN plot networks and SuperSites have scaled back LTER biodiversity
activities - operating in ‘funding drought mode’ waiting for the next ‘funding rains’.
Other LTER sites exist that were not involved in TERN as there
was an unfunded intensive LTER category. These sites are keen
to participate in coordinated LTER activity across Australia.
All of the LTER sites have long term biodiversity data.
Where is this biodiversity data? The Database Problem.
TERN, ANU, State government databases, hard drives..
https://sciences.adelaide.edu.au/biological-sciences/

What sort of coverage?
Australian LTES SURVEY

Youngentob et al. Austral Ecol. 2013

TERN / CSIRO Soil Grid

Large number of sites carrying out
LTES Long term ecological studies.
Needs an update as many of thesesites have shut down – new ones
have sprung up.

http://www.atn.com.au

Biodiversity in Australia
Biodiversity – what do we mean?

1) species diversity— variety of species.
2) ecosystem diversity - variety of habitats,ecological communities & ecological processes.
3) genetic diversity— variety of genetic information
in individual plants, animals and micro-organisms.

Australian Species biodiversity

Southerncorroboree frog
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au
Wollemipine
http://www.smh.com.au

Australia is home to around 560,000 species.
Endemics:
92% higher plant species
93% reptiles
45% bird

87% mammal species,94% frogs(Chapman 2009).

Western ringtail possum
http://www.smh.com.au

Australia – the biodiversity problem
http://en.wikipedia.org

Biodiversity decline – a national crisis

1,700 species & ecological communities are threatened
and known to be at risk of extinction (DSEWPaC 2010)

Bramble Cay melomys 2015

Species extinctions…

#1 in world – last 200 years 30 mammal extinctions.
(threatened species commissioner)
Short Spider-orchid 1988
http://ala.org.au

http://theconversation.com

Christmas-island-forest-skink 2017Federal inquiries….

2018 Inquiry into Australia’s faunal extinction crisis* adequacy of existing monitoring practices in relation tothreatened fauna assessment & adaptive management responses.
http://theconversation.com

Thylacine– Tasmanian Tiger 1982

Biodiversity monitoring in Australia
What is currently being done? - terrestrial on the ground.

1) Federal – TERN/Surv/EP ALA/Bushblitz
AusPlots – 1Ha veg. surveys, rangelands/mesic, 600+ plots
Ecosystem Process – 12 flux towers, phenocams, LAI, 5 year veg.
BushBlitz (Fed, BHP, Earthwatch) – survey.
2) State & Territory Based. QLD: CoreVeg / SLATS
3) AusLTER – details TBA
4) NGO: Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Birdlife Australia,
Bush Heritage 37 reserves covering 1.2 million hectares5) Indigenous Ranger Program
6) ARC Project based – Australian Acoustic Observatory‘Many disparate kinds of biodiversity monitoring programsaround Australia …characterized by marked differencesin experimental or survey design, field protocols, entities
targeted for measurement, & spatial/temporal scale of implementation.’

National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy
Three national priorities for action.
Priority 3. Getting measurable results through:• implement robust national monitoring & reporting
Target 10. By 2015, establish a national long-term
biodiversity monitoring and reporting system.
THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED.
NBCS 2018 – 30 – Revision in Draft
Objective 10: Increase knowledge about nature to make better decisions. …. supported
through a concerted and sustained effort across all levels of government,
and improved partnerships with community groups and business.
Objective 12: Effective measurement to demonstrate our collective efforts.
$billion National Landcare Program
Using an adaptive management framework without a robust on-going
monitoring across the country
THIS IS COMPROMISED.

Australia – the scale problem

The only continent operating as a single country.
The 6th largest country.
Biodiversity: one of the 17 megadiverse countries.
One of the lowest population densities on the planet– eg Northern Territory(1.4 x 106 km2)
has 0.2 people/km2

https://birdlife.org.au/projects/atlas-and-birdata

ABSNET
Australian Biodiversity Sensor Network
Grand challenge problem
What is an appropriate way to collect national, consistent, time series biodiversity
data to enable effective responses to rapid environmental change in Australia?

The proposed solution:

A large scale national distributed biodiversity sensor network– 1000+ monitoring sites across the continent.

How to make it moderately affordable?

Instead of funding the establishment of new sites take a whole of community
approach and ‘add-on’ sensor suites to existing long term ‘sites’– state/territory, TERN, NGO, council, agricultural… LTER.
Bring in so many ‘sites’ that a thorough design can be built that will
enable change detection and robust forecasting.

A large infrastructure/data problem

Biodiversity monitoring across the country becomes a large scale
infrastructure problem - like building a continental highway system.

http://www.atn.com.au

TERN / CSIRO Soil GridABSNET – scoping an early model I
Hybrid suite of sensors at each ‘site’

Commercial stand alone biodiversity sensors : camera trap, acoustic, bat.
– periodic ‘sneaker ware’ downloads of data from SD cards.
Pros: well understood reliability, user base of practical experience
Cons: two downloads/year raw data
Intelligent wireless multi-sensor biodiversity nodes (3G,4G, satellite).
– near real-time transfer of data to cloud from base node/gateway
Pros: near real-time, pre-processed data
Cons: stability of the system: energy, communications, hardware

http://www.reconyx.com.au/

CSIRO Fleck 3bP. Corke Proc IEEE (2010) doi:0.1109/JPROC.2010.2068530

Commercial environmental and biodiversity sensor stations (3G,4G, sat.):meteorological, soil moisture, water quality, phenocam
Pros: well understood reliability, near real-time data
Cons: they can still fail, need to be calibrated… like any other sensor

http://hydroinnova.com/

ABSNET – scoping an early model II
Campaign mode at each ‘site’

With appropriate training for ‘site’ operators it will be possible to add-on
campaign measurements which do not add substantial hours of field datacollection but add substantially to biodiversity data collection. eg : soils,eDNA: surface water – larger faunal assemblage, integrated over timedrones: VHR near-field remote sensing - larger spatial coverage

Richardson, A. Sensors (2017) doi:10.3390/s17122852

Tingley, R. Biol Invas (2018) doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1810-4

How much experience do we have to draw on?
Camera traps
Wildcount – park camera trap monitoring
system for faunal biodiversity.
(NSW DPIE, DOEH, NPWS):
WildCount can already confidently detectchanges in occurrence of 12 species overten years. 800 Cameras deployed.

72% of all
animals are data
deficienthttps://www.environment.nsw.gov.au

Indigenous Protected area monitoring- annual large scale camera trap biodiversity
surveys(Milerrelerre, NT Warddeken Rangers, NTGov.)
https://www.warddeken.com

https://www.nespnorthern.edu.au

Biodiversity monitoring using camera traps
Camera traps
Wilddog Alert – real time alert system forferal dogs - used by landowners .
(NSW Centre for Invasive Species Solutions):
https://www.pestsmart.org.au

Camera trap data analytics:
Both AI and citizen science expert analysis
platforms exist and are extensively used.
Digivol / Wildlife spotter(ALA / Australian Museum)https://volunteer.ala.org.au/wildlife-spotter

Biodiversity monitoring using acoustic sensors
Acoustic sensors (recorders)
A2O. Australian Acoustic Observatory- monitoring birds, frogs, toads, invertebrates, audible fauna 6- ARC Funded Project (QUT, SCU, JCU, UNE, UQ) … 400 sensors– in build phase.

https:// acousticobservatory.org

http://www.frontierlabs.com.au
https://www.britannica.com/animal/koala

Monitoring of koalas to examine theirresilience to timber harvesting- NSW Department of Primary Industries,QUT
https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.auLaw, B.S. PLoS One. 2018 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205075