GEOSS Ecosystem Mapping for Australia

The physical drivers of ecosystem formation – macroclimate, lithology and landform – along with vegetation structural formations are key determinants of current ecosystem type. Each combination of these ecosystem drivers – each ‘ecological facet’ – provides a unique set of opportunities and challenges for life. Management and conservation should seek to understand and take in to account these drivers of ecosystem formation. By understanding the unique combinations of these drivers management strategies can plan for their full range of variation, and conservation efforts can ensure that unique ecosystems are not lost. Unfortunately, there is currently no Australia-wide standardized map of ecological facets at management-appropriate scales. By understanding the magnitude and distribution of unique combinations of these drivers, management strategies can plan for their full range of variation, and conservation efforts can ensure that unique ecosystems are not lost. Additionally, by improving our understanding of the past and present conditions that have given rise to current ecological facets this dataset could facilitate future predictive environmental modelling. Finally, this data could assisting biodiversity conservation, climate change impact studies and mitigation, ecosystem services assessment, and development planning Further information about the dataset can be found at GEOSS Ecosystem Map,TERN Knowledge Base .生态系统形成的物理驱动因子——大气候（macroclimate）、岩性（lithology）与地貌（landform）——连同植被结构格局，是决定当前生态系统类型的核心要素。这些生态系统驱动因子的每一种组合，即每一个“生态面元（ecological facet）”，都为生命活动提供了一套独特的机遇与挑战。 生态管理与保护工作应当充分理解并将这些生态系统形成的驱动因子纳入考量。通过明晰这些驱动因子的独特组合模式，管理策略可规划覆盖其全部变异范围的应对方案，保护行动亦能确保独特的生态系统免遭灭失。遗憾的是，目前澳大利亚境内尚无适配管理尺度的标准化生态面元地图。 通过明晰这些驱动因子独特组合的规模与分布特征，管理策略可进一步规划其全范围变异的应对方案，保护行动亦可保障独特生态系统不致流失。此外，通过深化对塑造当前生态面元的历史与现状条件的认知，本数据集可助力未来的预测性环境建模工作。最后，该数据还可应用于生物多样性保护、气候变化影响研究与减缓行动、生态系统服务评估以及开发规划等领域。 有关本数据集的更多信息，可查阅GEOSS生态系统地图、TERN知识库。