Indicator 1.2a: Forest dwelling species for which ecological information is available (2024) - Supporting information

The species datasets underpinning Indicator 1.2a are sourced from the species records stored in the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA). Records in the ALA comprise species observations with an associated location, and are sourced from a range of data custodians, including state and territory museums and herbaria, universities, individuals and community organisations.

The ALA species observation records from January 1970 to December 2021 were intersected with the Forests of Australia (2018) spatial dataset to attribute records as forest or non-forest (the Forests of Australia (2023) spatial dataset was not available at the time of analysis). The ALA general profile was used to filter records, particularly to exclude those with spatial uncertainty. The filter also excluded records that were incomplete or were based on environmental DNA or fossils. Supplied records were further assessed against the following criteria to determine each species forest-dwelling status. 

The updated method which uses ALA as a single data source is likely to reduce error because the ALA data contains validated species occurrence and is less likely to be impacted by differing monitoring methods or monitoring intensities across jurisdictions. The new approach also allows for systematic data analysis and the development of reproducible methods to update this indicator over time. It also enables a national total of species to be calculated.

The ALA dataset contained 5,330 species of chordates. The following criteria were used to determine whether a species is a forest-dwelling vertebrate fauna species:

1. species is a vertebrate and extant (not extinct)
2. scientific name is accepted by the Australian Faunal Directory (AFD) (ABRS, 2023)
3. species is native to the National Forest Inventory region (Australia’s states and territories and their close offshore islands, but not endemic to external territories such as Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island)
4. species uses forest habitats:
   • species has at least one record within the Forests of Australia (2018) forest coverage (excluding species separately known not to inhabit or be associated with forest habitats), and
   • the number and proportion of records in forest exceed quantitative thresholds for the relevant taxonomic group (Table 1.2a-3) – a species exceeds quantitative thresholds and therefore is considered forest-dwelling if the number of records in forest (n) and the proportion of records in forest (r) in the ALA dataset pass any of the combinations in Table 1.2a-3 below, or
   • the species does not meet the quantitative thresholds for the relevant taxonomic group (Table 1.2a-3) but is known to inhabit or be associated with forest habitats (listed threatened fauna under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) as well as below-threshold species (non-threatened) were individually checked to ensure that naturally rare or cryptic species were retained).

Thresholds were set to optimise the balance between forest species incorrectly excluded (for example, rarely observed or newly discovered species) and non-forest species incorrectly included.

This process resulted in a final national list of 1,788 native forest-dwelling fauna species. The steps used in the analysis are outlined in Figure 1.2a-1.

The number of forest-dwelling fauna species in each jurisdiction was determined based on each species distribution in the Australian Faunal Directory (AFD).

The ALA dataset contained 27,093 flora taxa. The following criteria were used to determine whether a species is a forest-dwelling vascular flora species:

1. species is a vascular plant species and extant (not extinct)
2. scientific name is accepted by the Australian Plant Census (APC) (CHAH, 2023)
   • records of all subspecies and other infrataxa were merged with records of the corresponding species
3. species is native to the National Forest Inventory region (Australia’s states and territories and their close offshore islands, but not endemic to external territories such as Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island)
4. species uses forest habitat:
   • species has at least one record within the Forests of Australia (2018) forest coverage, and
   • the number and proportion of records in forest exceeds quantitative thresholds for the relevant taxonomic group (Table 1.2a-4) – a species exceeds quantitative threshold and therefore is considered forest-dwelling if the number of records in forest (n) and the proportion of records in forest (r) in the ALA dataset pass any of the combinations in Table 1.2a-4 below, or
   • listed threatened flora under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) that does not exceed the quantitative thresholds for the relevant taxonomic group (Table 1.2a 4) but is known to inhabit or is associated with forest habitats (listed threatened flora were individually checked to ensure that naturally rare or cryptic species were retained).

Thresholds were set to optimise the balance between forest species incorrectly excluded (for example, rarely observed or newly discovered species) and non-forest species incorrectly included.

This process resulted in a final list of 13,788 native forest-dwelling vascular flora. The steps used in the analysis are outlined in Figure 1.2a-2.

The number of forest-dwelling flora species in each jurisdiction was based on each species distribution in the Australian Plant Census.

Reporting of native forest-dwelling species in previous Australia’s State of the Forest Reports were based on a compilation of data provided by states and territories. The new method for species reporting, which uses Atlas of Living Australia as a single data source (see Generating the lists of forest-dwelling species) means no comparisons can be made with previously reported figures.

Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) data from 01 January 1970 to 31 December 2021, provided December 2021.

ABARES (2018). Forests of Australia (2018), Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra, December. CC BY 4.0 doi.org/10.25814/5c59170ec780d

ABRS (Australian Biological Resources Study) (2023). Australian Faunal Directory, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, accessed 15 March 2023.

CHAH (Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria) (2023). Australian Plant Census, Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, Canberra, accessed 11 April 2023.

Randall J, McDonald J, Wong L J, Pagad S (2023). Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - Australia. Version 1.10. Invasive Species Specialist Group ISSG. Checklist dataset doi.org/10.15468/3pz20c accessed via GBIF.org on 10 February 2023.