Forest-dwelling species and threatened forest ecological communities of Australia dataset (2024)

Forest-dwelling species and threatened forest ecological communities of Australia dataset (2024) is a continental dataset of forest-dwelling species and forest ecological communities as at December 2021, assembled for the 2024 update of Indicator 1.2a, Indicator 1.2b and Indicator 1.3a for Australia's State of the Forests Report. It was developed from species records stored in the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) intersected with the Forests of Australia (2018) spatial dataset (Forests of Australia (2023) was not available at time of analysis), and forest-dwelling species listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) recorded in the Species Profile and Threats (SPRAT) Database.

Documentation on the method used to derive the dataset are available in the Supporting information of Indicator 1.2a, Indicator 1.2b and Indicator 1.3a for Australia's State of the Forests Report.

The dataset contains seven specific lists:
1. Forest-dwelling fauna
2. Forest-dwelling flora
These lists each contain the species scientific name, common name where available, taxon group, and presence in relevant state and/or territory for each forest-dwelling species.

3. Forest-dwelling fauna listed as Threatened under the EPBC Act
4. Forest-dwelling flora listed as Threatened under the EPBC Act
These lists each contain the taxon identification number, scientific name according to the Australian Fauna Directory or Australian Plant Census, scientific name used in the Species Profile and Threats (SPRAT) Database, common name where available, taxon group, threat status under the EPBC Act, date of listing under the EPBC Act, changes to the listing or conservation documents of the species, and assessed level of 16 specified threats to those species.

5. Forest ecological communities listed as Threatened under the EPBC Act
This list contains the community’s identification number, the name of the community recorded in the Species Profile and Threats (SPRAT) Database, threat status under the EPBC Act, date of listing under the EPBC Act, presence of community in relevant state and/or territory, and assessed level of 16 specified threats to those communities.

6. Threatened forest-dwelling species considered priority species in the Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032
This list contains the taxon identification number, scientific name used in the Species Profile and Threats (SPRAT) Database, common name where available, taxon group, and threat status under the EPBC Act.

7. Forest-dwelling species delisted (removed) from the EPBC Act
This list contains the taxon identification number, scientific name used in the Species Profile and Threats (SPRAT) Database, common name where available, taxon group, threat status under the EPBC Act before delisting, and the date they were delisted.

The dataset was compiled by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) for the National Forest Inventory (NFI), a collaborative partnership between the Australian and state and territory governments. The role of the NFI is to collate, integrate and communicate information on Australia's forests.

The Forest-dwelling species and threatened forest ecological communities of Australia dataset (2024) dataset is produced to fulfil requirements of Australia's National Forest Policy Statement and the Regional Forests Agreement Act 2002 (Cwth), and is used by the Australian Government for domestic and international reporting.