Biodiversity

Vegetation | Port Phillip & Westernport Bioregions | Biodiversity Action Planning


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.

Bioregions are the broadscale mapping units for biodiversity planning in Victoria and have been adopted under Victoria's Biodiversity Strategy (1997) available on the DSE website (external link) and the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) available on the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts website (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.

See also Statewide Biodiversity

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 (extenal 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 report "A Reference Guide to the Ecology and Natural Resources of the Melbourne Region available on the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne website (external link)
A Bibliography of the Biodiversity Literature for Scientists, Teachers, Policy Makers, Planners and Natural Resource Managers" by McDonnell et al (1999) is available for download on the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology website (external link).

City of Greater Geelong Biodiversity Strategy (external link).