This dataset indicates the presence and persistence of water across New South Wales between 1988 and 2012. Water is one of the world’s most important resources as it’s critical for human consumption, agriculture, the persistence of flora and fauna species and other ecosystem services. Information about the spatial distribution and prevalence of water is necessary for a range of business, modelling, monitoring, risk assessment, and conservation activities. For example, one of the necessary steps in the NSW State-wide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS), which monitors vegetation change and is used in the production of vegetation maps, involves removing non-vegetative features such as water bodies through water masking. Water count The water count product is based on water index and water masks for NSW (Danaher & Collett 2006), and represents the proportion of observations with water present across the Landsat time series as a fraction of total number of possible observations in the 25yr period (1 Jan 1988 to 31 Dec 2012). The product has two bands where band 1 is the number of times water was present across the time series, and band 2 is the count of unobscured (i.e. non-null) input pixels, or number of total observations for that pixel. Cloud, cloud-shadow, steep slopes and topographic shadow can obscure the ability to count water presence. Water Prevalence The water prevalence product is extracted from the water count product and provides a measure of the relative persistence of water in the landscape (e.g. from always present to rarely and never present). There are 12 classes representing the percentage of time a pixel has had water present out of the total number of observations for that pixel (i.e Band 1/Band 2 of the water count product). Water prevalence mapping provides information for multiple, wide-reaching applications. For example, distance to locations of persistent water bodies can be modelled as a contributing indicator of potential biodiversity refugia. Files align with Landsat paths and rows (see https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/nli/landsat/landsat-tools), with files for water count denoted 'dd7' and water prevalence 'ddh'.

High quality digital site reference images are captured for the core 1 hectare vegetation plot of the site on an annual basis to provide context for researchers to understand the general layout and vegetation of the study site, and as a visual reference to monitor any changes over time. Photopoints were taken annually using the five point photopoint method. The set of images for each year usually consists of twenty images: four images taken at each corner of the plot facing each of the four cardinal points, and four images taken from the center of the plot facing each corner. <br /> The Karawatha Peri-Urban Site was established in 2007 and decommissioned in 2018. The site was located in Eucalypt forest at Karawatha Forest. For additional site information, see https://deims.org/f15bc7aa-ab4a-443b-a935-dbad3e7101f4. <br /> Other images collected at the site include digital cover photography and ancillary images of fauna and flora.

The dataset can be reused for contintental-wide synthesis of the cover of Australian grasses. It consists of high quality, well-described plot-based data extracted from TERN repository on 13/3/2014. The data includes vegetation records for the Poaceae family from the following dataset: ABARES Ground Cover Reference Sites Database, Biological Survey of South Australia - Vegetation Survey, Biological Database of South Australia, Corveg (Queensland), TERN AusPlots Rangelands Survey Program, Biological Survey of the Ravensthorpe Range (Western Australia).The entire content of the portal was initially extracted using the portal's download feature to obtain the full extent of available data for the following all datasets. These data were loaded into a PostgreSQL database. Subsequently, a SQL query was built for each of the cited datasets which produced a flat table containing information about the survey name, site identifier, visit date, coordinates, species, abundance, biomass and/or cover class, filtering on species of the Poaceae family using a genus list obtained from the website of the Atlas of Living Australia (http://www.ala.org.au/).

<p>Digital Cover Photography (DCP) upward-looking images were collected annually to capture vegetation cover at the TERN Karawatha Peri-Urban SuperSite. These images can be used to estimate Leaf area index (LAI), Crown Cover or Foliage Projective Cover (FPC). </p><p> The Karawatha Peri-Urban SuperSite was established in 2007 and decommissioned in 2018. The site was located in Eucalypt forest at Karawatha Forest. For additional site information, see https://deims.org/f15bc7aa-ab4a-443b-a935-dbad3e7101f4 . </p><p> Other images collected at the site include photopoints and ancilliary images of fauna and flora. </p>

The Landsat-derived fractional cover layer gives the amount of bare ground, green vegetation, and dead vegetation for each pixel on a specific date. The landscape of NSW undergoes a large variation in greenness throughout the seasonal and drought cycles. Information about the variation in greenness can be useful for a variety of mapping and planning tasks. Areas of green vegetation are important for native species habitat and human recreation activities. Green areas in the landscape are often related to the availability of near surface water or recent inundation, such as bogs, swamps and mires. These green areas are important for native plants and animals as locations of food and water in dry times. The green fraction has been analysed for a sequence of images to show how long an area stays green following a greening event, such as grass growth in response to rainfall. The map of green accumulation for NSW was created from Landsat images from 1988 to 2012. Areas exhibiting the highest values are the areas of NSW that respond with high green cover for a long period after a greening event.

This dataset contains maps of woody vegetation extent and woody foliage projective cover (FPC) for New South Wales at 5 metre resolution. <br /><br /> Woody vegetation is a key feature of our landscape and an integral part of our society. We value it because it contributes to the economy, protects the land, provides us with recreation, and gives refuge to the unique and diverse range of fauna that we regard so highly. Yet it poses a significant threat to us in times of fire and storm. So information about trees is vital for a range of business, property planning, monitoring, risk assessment, and conservation activities. <br /><br /> The datasets are: <br /> Woody vegetation extent. A presence/absence map showing areas of trees and shrubs, taller than two metres, that are visible at the resolution of the imagery used in the analysis. This shows the location, extent, and density of foliage cover for stands of woody vegetation, enabling identification of small features such as trees in paddocks and scattered woodlands through to the largest expanses of forest in the State. Woody extent products contain 'bcu' in the file name.<br /><br /> Woody foliage projective cover (FPC). FPC is a measure of the proportion of the ground area covered by foliage (or photosynthetic tissue) held in a vertical plane and is a measure of canopy density. Woody FPC products contain 'bcv' in the file name. <br /><br /> Both mosaics and tiles are available, along with a shape file that identifies the location of the tiles.

We investigated recovery of soil chemical properties after restoration in semi-arid Western Australia, hypothesising that elevated nutrient concentrations would gradually decline post planting, but available phosphorus (P) concentrations would remain higher than reference conditions. We used a space-for-time substitution approach, comparing 10 planted old field plots with matched fallow cropland and reference woodlands. Sampling on planted old fields and reference woodland plots was stratified into open patches and under tree canopy to account for consistent differences between these areas. Soil samples to 10 cm depth were collected at 20 points across 30 plots. Ten samples were randomly collected and combined from locations beneath trees and a further 10 samples collected in gaps and combined, resulting in one soil sample for beneath tree canopy and another one for gap areas. Sampling occurred in autumn 2017 to capture potentially high concentrations of soil nitrate following the seasonal die-back of exotic annual plants typical of this Mediterranean-climate region. Samples were stored at 4 °C in plastic zip-lock bags until delivery to the CSBP Limited (Bibra Lake, WA) laboratories. Chemical parameters measured were plant available P (Colwell), plant available N (nitrate and ammonium), total N, plant available potassium (Colwell) and plant available sulphur (KCl 40). Lastly, electrical conductivity, pH (H2O, CaCl2), and soil texture were quantified as differences among plots could affect nutrient availability and soil chemistry. Soil available nutrients were also measured using Plant Root Simulator (PRS)TM resin probes (Western Ag Innovations, 2010, https://www.westernag.ca/inn). Probes contain anion or cation exchange membranes within a plastic stake. The membranes act as a sink for collecting nutrients and continuously absorb ions during deployment. Four anion and cation probes were placed vertically in the top 15 cm of soil at each stratification. Probes were left in the ground for three months during the growing season, from August to November 2017. This period was deemed suitable for semi-arid regions to achieve sufficient nutrient uptake but not too long to saturate probes. After removal, probes were cleaned with deionized water and sent to Western Ag Innovations (Canada) for analysis. All soil chemical analyses were conducted under laboratory conditions using standard test procedures. PRS probe nutrients are reported as micrograms/10cm2/time.

This data contains soil physico-chemical characteristics collected at the Warra Tall Eucalypt site in 2012.

This data contains soil description, bulk density and soil moisture characteristics collected at the Calperum Mallee site in 2012.

<br>The aim of this project is to compile land use and management practices and their observed and measured impacts and effects on vegetation condition. The results provide land managers and researchers with a tool for reporting and monitoring spatial and temporal transformations of Australia’s native vegetated landscapes due to changes in land use and management practices. Following are the details about South Brooman State Forest, NSW. </br><br> Pre-European reference-analogue vegetation: The site was originally eucalypt tall open forest, multi-aged open, dry sclerophyll forest. The main overstorey species were spotted gum (<em>Corymbia maculata</em>), <em>Eucalyptus muelleriana</em>, <em>E. paniculata</em>, <em>E. pilularis</em>. The main understorey species were <em>Acacia spp.</em>, <em>Acmena spp.</em> </br><br> Brief chronology of changes in land use and management:<ul style="list-style-type: disc;"> <li>1830: Unmodified</li> <li>1880: Area picked over for high quality sawlogs</li> <li>1945: Area picked over for high quality sawlogs</li> <li>1949: Sawlog harvesting - 85% of area</li> <li>1959: Sawlog harvesting - 85% of area</li> <li>1968: Commercial Thinning - 25% of area</li> <li>1969: Area left to rehabilitate</li> <li>1994: Wildfire - 100% of the area</li> <li>1996: Pole harvesting - 5% of area</li> <li>1998: Sawlog harvesting - 20% of the area</li> <li>1999 and 2003: Hazard reduction</li> <li>1997: Site was burnt (prescribed fire) followed by drought</li> <li>2004-2011: Area left to rehabilitate</li></ul></br>