Biodiversity

Glenelg-Hopkins Bioregions | Biodiversity Action Planning | Vegetation | Statewide Biodiversity

Biodiversity conservation is recognised as an essential component of responsible environment and natural resource management. Conserving biodiversity is also fundamental to both quality of life and economic well-being, both now and into the future. Landscape Zones are shown on this map and can be clicked on to reveal information on: Landscape Plans,Practitioner Reports and Local Area Biodiversity Plans that relate to each of these zones. These can also be viewed from the links provided below. More sites will be downloadable as the information becomes available. Bioregions are the broadscale mapping units for biodiversity planning in Victoria and have been adopted under Victoria's Biodiversity Strategy (1997) (external link) and the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) (external link). Bioregions capture the patterns and ecological characteristics in the landscape. The Biodiversity Action Planning (BAP) Program is a structured approach to identifying priorities and mapping significant areas for native biodiversity at landscape and bioregional scales across Victoria. Information relating to the BAP Program will be made available on this website soon.

Related Links

A wide range of Victorian biodiversity data can be accessed via the Biodiversity Interactive Map on the DSE website (external link). This information includes vegetation (e.g. tree cover and tree density), wetlands (e.g. Ramsar sites), and management boundaries.

The Museum of Victoria's Bioinformatics website (external link) provides provides public access to some of Victoria’s vertebrate and invertebrate biodiversity. The core of the web site is an enriched dataset that combines over 230 000 faunal specimen records from the Museum's collections, the Victorian Government Wildlife Atlas, Parks Victoria and several private collections. The user can query about the name of an animal, find out when and where it has been recorded as well as other relevant information. It is also possible to find out about the ecological, conservation and protection status of Victoria’s biodiversity. Except for birds and fish, the present web site covers all species of Victorian vertebrates: mammals - 139 species with 162,467 records; lizards - 87 species with 16,819 records; frogs - 34 species with 23,328 records; snakes - 27 species with 2,332 records; together with Victorian butterflies - 143 species with 31,139 records. It is updated as new information is recorded.

The Royal Botanic Gardens website provides information about Australian fungi in it's Fungimap site (external link). Fungimap is a collaborative project between professional and amateur mycologists and naturalists to gather information about the distribution of fungi throughout Australia. The website includes photos and descriptions of species as well as maps showing recorded distribution Australia-wide.

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