Habitat maps for key species in the Murray-Darling Basin

Spatial layers are provided representing predicted habitat quality for several focal species across the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) at 3s resolution (~90 m). The species considered were: river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis); lignum (Duma sp.); royal spoonbill (Platalea regia); straw-necked ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis); Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii); golden perch (Macquaria ambigua), and; shrimp (Macrobrachium australiense, Parataya australiensis, Caridina sp.). The occurrence and habitat quality for these species was modelled by combining spatial environment layers with observations of species occurrence, abundance and physiological condition. The spatial environment layers used included variables that change over time, primarily based on a bimonthly time-series of inundation depth across the MDB, and river flow in 1km segments of major streams, but also including rainfall time-series. The habitat models were projected spatially to produce spatial layers (maps) of predicted habitat quality for each time point (bimonthly or annual) over several decades (1995-2020).