Resource library

The Atlas of Living Australia is a collaborative, national project that aggregates biodiversity data from multiple sources and makes it freely available and usable online. Includes species information profiles, downloadable occurance data,  spatial tools, sightings upload tools and citizen science platforms.

Bush Blitz is a partnership between the Australian Government, BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities and Earthwatch Australia to document plants and animals in selected properties across Australia.

Use this search tool to generate a report that will help determine whether matters of national environmental significance or other matters protected by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 are likely to occur in your area of interest.

VICFLORA by the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria is a comprehensive and current online guide to the wild plants of Victoria. Includes plant profiles, identification tools, images and illustrations.

A range of Leadbeater's Possum spatial information is available on the Leadbeater's Possum Interactive Map. This user-friendly tool provides public access to the most up-to-date Leadbeater's Possum spatial information

NatureKit is the Department  of Environment, Land, Water and Planning's biodiversity web mapping and reporting tool that has been developed to replace Biodiversity Interactive Map (BIM).

TERN was established in late 2009 as Australia’s first Commonwealth Government NCRIS grant-funded research infrastructure to deliver a national terrestrial ecosystem observatory providing standardised and integrated measures of changes in Australia’s land-based ecosystem biodiversity. The goal of TERN is to provide open access for researchers to Australia’s land-based ecosystem monitoring infrastructure, data and research tools and thus contribute to a broader understanding and long-term sustainable management of Australia’s ecosystems.

National threatened species research network supported by the National Environmental Science Program. Key research themes include controlling threats, flora and fauna at high risk of extinction, monitoring and management, reintroductions and refugia, threatened species policy, and social and economic aspects of threatened species recovery.

The Victorian Biodiversity Atlas (VBA) is the collated information of flora and fauna sightings across Victoria. The VBA is managed by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA). 

Visualising Victoria's Biodiversity (VVB) is a map portal  for accessing and sharing spatial information on Victoria's environmental values, conservation activities and research.

Website

National list of BioBlitz projects. 

Web app, Android app, iOS app

A Birdlife Australia platform. Record, contribute and viewbird sightings and survey data.

Website, Android app, iOS app

Contribute species data relating to climate change.

iOS app

EchidnaCSI is a citizen science project aimed at understanding more about Echidnas through the public's help.

Web app

EstuaryWatch is a citizen science program for monitoring estuary health.

Android app, iOS app

Melbourne Water community frog monitoring program. Recording of frog calls. 

Website

Putting Australian fungi on the map.

Web app

Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority bird, fish, reptile and frog observation program.

Web app, Android app, iOS app

The North Central CMA's NatureBlitz app is a citizen science monitoring tool that allows the community to collect important information about our region's biodiversity.

Volunteer program

A Victorian National Parks Association program. Started in 2007, NatureWatch trains community volunteers to collect important information about Victoria's animals and plants. Projects include Communities Listening for Nature, Caught on Camera, Grasstree Monitoring and Grassland Threatened Species.

Web app

Report Platypus sigthings.

Volunteer program

A Victorian National Parks Association program. Marine citizen science program that trains pople to collect important information about fish, invertebrates and algae at dive locations across Victoria. Projects include Great Victorian Fish Count, Adopt a Sponge, PlateWatch, OysterWatch, Sea Slug Census and ReefCam

The Threatened Species Conservancy is an independent not-for-profit organisation helping Australia’s threatened plants and animals to thrive.

The Threatened Species Conservancy undertakes planning and the implementation of recovery programs for the nation’s threatened plants and animals.

The Conservancy fosters connections between people and the natural world through targeted on-ground actions, citizen science and community engagement.

Valuing Urban Wetlands uses Citizen Science to  demonstrate the relative value of wetlands in the Greater Melbourne region. Includes Latham's Snipe records and waterbird lists for selected wetlands.

Web app

Waterwatch is a citizen science program for monitoring waterway health.

Web app

WomSAT is a new resource for communities to record sightings of wombats across the country.

Web app

Platform for storing, analysing, visualising, synthesising and sharing animal presence and movement information.

Happenings on a conservation property in the Mallee of north-west Victoria. “Raakajlim” is a 470-hectare private property, managed entirely for conservation since 2001. View the flora and fauna of this beautiful area.

Natural history writing on the flora and fauna of the Wombat Forest.

View recordings of presentations to SWIFFT Seminar on 21 March 2024 - Bat Conservation.

 

 

 

 

The preservation of biodiversity values and enhancement of environmental resilience is of vital importance for the function of ecosystems, persistence of wildlife, public health, agriculture, urban amenity and visitor attraction. Changes to temperature, rainfall, storm and fire patterns associated with climate change are already putting species and ecosystems at risk.

Adapt Grampians together with the State Wide Integrated Flora and Fauna Teams (SWIFFT) held a forum on 22 June 2023 to explore work being done to respond and adapt to these pressures on biodiversity.

View presentations via YouTube:

James Todd – Chief Biodiversity Officer, DEECA
Climate change, adaptation, and biodiversity 

Amanda Lamont – Nature Based Resilience
Nature Based Resilience – rethinking disasters 

Nathan Wong – DJARRA 
DJANDAK Strategy 

Adam Miller – Deakin University 
Landscape genomics of Gariwerd flora communities 

Adapt Grampians - forums

Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (2020)

Updates on Environmental Volunteering across Victoria with links to subscribe.

Recording of webinar held on 15 October 2022 - hosted by the Victorian Environment Friends Network (VEFN) and the Environmental Volunteers and Agency Network - Central West (EVAN). Learn about what motivates young people to becomes involved in environmental volunteering.  For more details watch on YouTube.

This event was organised through the Linear Reserves Project

Presentations

• The value of native grasslands and the role fire plays in enhancing biodiversity and reducing risk to communities - Dr John Morgan, Associate Professor, Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University
• Working within current CFA guidelines - Andy Govanstone, Biodiversity Advisor, CFA
• Roadside burning trends in south-west Victoria - Ben Zeeman, Senior Biodiversity Officer, Glenelg Hopkins CMA
• The past, the present, the future - Mark Gubbins, Westmere Group Burning Controller and lamb & beef producer

View recording

by the ABC 

Off Track, with Ann Jones, is an Australian radio show and podcast which combines the relaxing sounds of nature with awesome stories of wildlife and environmental science, all recorded in the outdoors.

Recordings of the South West Biodiversity Forum. Tuesday, 23 November 2021 and Thursday, 25 November 2021. This event was supported by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).   

This webinar was held by NRM Regions Australia in response to the  Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientist’s Blueprint to Repair Australia’s Landscapes.

The statement's authors aim is to champion a transformative, nation-wide effort to protect and restore Australia’s lands, seas and waterways by scaling up and linking the immense capability and good will we have in natural resource management and Indigenous caring for Country across all regions of Australia.

Speakers at the webinar were:
Kate Andrews - CEO, NRM Regions Australia
Teagan Shields - Arabana Woman and Research Fellow, Curtin University
Mike Grundy - Member, Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists

View on YouTube

Recording of seminar - Woorndoo Community Day - Celebrating restored grasslands

• The Woorndoo Project – review John Delpratt
• Mapping roadsides for conservation and repair – a case study     Lincoln Kern Practical Ecology Pty. Ltd.
• Introduction to native grasslands – a video presentation Ammie Jackson, DELWP Linear Reserves Program
• "Looking to the future - where should we be focusing our efforts for grassy ecosystem conservation and restoration?" Assoc. Prof. John Morgan, Dept. of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University
• “Seed Production: underpinning innovative approaches to restoring species-rich native grasslands.” Dr. Paul Gibson Roy, Manager Ecological Restoration, Kalbar Operations

Issue 3: special issue on citizen science.

This is the second book of geometrids, adults of the familiar looper caterpillar. They range from small day-flying to robust and intricate patterned creatures of the night. With 180 species and over 700 images this book presents every known Victorian moth in these two groups for the first time. Accompanying disk  provides over 380 additional pages with information, biology and distribution for each species.

Book on native plants for south eastern South Australia - released March 2010

Author: Neville Bonney
Cost: $45 inc. GST
Contact: Kirsty Heaver, South East Natural Resource Management Board
Order: from the South East Natural Resource Management Board
PO Box 30, Mt Gambier, 5290, South Australia
Phone: 08 87246000

This book will have relevance to many species found in south-west Victoria and the southern boarder area of Victoria and South Australia.

by Museums Victoria

Android app, iOS app

Available for both Apple and Android devices, the app holds descriptions of over 950 species, including birds, mammals, fishes, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates from terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments.

by Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Corporation and  Museums Victoria

Android app, iOS app

This app presents descriptions of 250 species found in the Budj Bim Cultural Heritage Landscape, over half with traditional names and information about their cultural significance. It includes birds, fishes, frogs, lizards, snakes, and mammals as well as freshwater, terrestrial and marine invertebrates.

by Enid Mayfield

Daisies, Heaths, Peas, Saltbushes, Sundews, Wattles and Other Shrubby and Herbaceous Dicotyledons

This visually superb and informative field guide is the second volume of Flora of the Otway Plain and Ranges, and covers more than 480 species of Daisies, Heaths, Peas, Saltbushes,Sundews, Wattles and other shrubby and herbaceous Dicotyledons. The illustrated family key is unique and covers 75 families and over 200 genera. Each species is illustrated and labels provide a clear key to identification for botanists and amateurs alike.

The Otway region of Victoria, with its temperate rainforests, mountain ash forests,heathlands, plains and coastal dunes, has an extraordinarily rich and diverse flora.

Produced by Corangamite CMA and partners. This guide is designed to support land holders, managers and the wider community to maintain and improve the unique flora and fauna of our volcanic plains grasslands and grassy woodlands.

The guidebook includes:

• Why grasslands are important
• What grassy communities look like
• Images of the native flora and fauna of the grasses and grassy woodlands on the Volcanic Plains
• Grassy and grassy woodland habitats
• Aboriginal cultural heritage
• Weed invasion
• Management and actions

The guidebook aims to raise awareness and understanding of these unique ecosystems will help ensure that they are protected and restored for future generations.

Available as an electronic download

by Ian Clarke

An extensively illustrated book explaining:

• The structure of Grasses and several similar groups
• The descriptive terminology
• The process of identification.

Published November 2015 by: Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Birdwood Avenue, Melbourne 3004.

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria shop

by Ed McNabb

This is a CD that has night calls for 53 species of nocturnal birds and mammals. For more information and order from  Ninox pursuites.

by Adrian Marshall

Victoria's urban grasslands are endangered. The Victorian National Parks Association, with support from the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, has been developing design guidelines to support native grasslands in urban areas. Chapters include;

• Seven principles for grassland design
• From planning to maintenance
• Planning guidelines
• Design guidelines
• Typical cross-section
• Guidelines for transition to construction
• Case studies

The DVD was funded by The Norman Wettenhall Foundation & The Melliodora Fund. The DVD runs for 25 minutes and features Chris Tzaros from Birds Australia, The aim of the DVD is to help people to identify Swifties by sight and by call. There is also some rare footage of their feeding habits at Muckleford.If anyone is interested in purchasing a copy please contact swiftparrotsofmuckleford@hotmail.com. The DVD is $20

by The Code Sharman, The Waterbug Company, Mandy Hall Media, Australian Museum

Android app, iOS app

The Waterbug app helps you identify waterbugs from South-eastern Australia. Use the key to answer questions that help you identify your waterbug, or whizz through speedbug and see if you recognize it.

Android app, iOS app

This Field Guide app portrays the rich terrestrial, freshwater and marine life found in Gippsland Lakes catchment, in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It presents imagery and descriptions of over 250 animal species, representing those commonly encountered and others of special interest. It is only a fraction of the rich wildlife found in the forests, rivers, wetlands and lakes of the catchment.

Casanova M.T. and Casanova A.J. (2016)

This report found wetlands are highly vulnerable to cropping because a large number of their attributes (soil, seed bank, vegetation, invertebrates, vertebrates, water regime, water quality) and processes (germination, establishment, trophic interactions) are sensitive to the physical and chemical disturbances applied in cropping. The approximately 20,000 privately owned wetlands of natural origin are at the highest risk.

Research Paper focusing on conservation of the Orange-bellied Parrot: Identifying cost-effective recovery actions for a critically endangered species, Rachel A. Pritchard, Ella L. Kelly, James R. Biggs, Annika N. Everaardt, Richard Loyn, Michael J. L. Magrath, Peter Menkhorst, Carolyn J. Hogg, William L. Geary, 18 November 2021, The Society for Conservation Biology, Conservation Science and Practice journal. Open Access. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.546

White, M., Menkhorst, P., Griffioen, Green, B., Salkin, O. and Pritchard, R. (2016)

This report found the mainland winter habitat is unlikely to have declined significantly since 1983 in a structural or compositional sense to explain the decline in Orange-bellied Parrot population. The number of individuals counted during coordinated winter surveys has declined from 70-90 individuals in the 1980s (with a peak of 122 in 1983) to fewer than 20 in each year since 2001 and fewer than 10 in the last 5 years.  

Prepared by Phil Hunter BAppSc (PksRec & Herit) Geelong Field Naturalists Club Inc. January 2019

The Victorian Wildlife Rehabilitation Guidelines contains 4 volumes (1. General information, 2. Mammals, 3. Birds, 4. Reptiles & Amphibians). The guidelines are aimed at advancing the standards of caring for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife from rescue, transport, monitoring and care through to release.  The guidelines have been developed by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) in partnership with Zoos Victoria. Published 2023.

Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (2018)

The Environmental Volunteering Plan is a coordinated and revitalised approach to environmental volunteering that supports and fosters a sustainable, modern, effective and valued environmental volunteering sector in Victoria.