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. <br> 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. <br> 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 <br> Further information about the dataset can be found at <a href="https://ternaus.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TERNSup/pages/2276130817/GEOSS+Ecosystem+Map">GEOSS Ecosystem Map,TERN Knowledge Base </a> .

<br>This release consists of flux tower measurements of the exchange of energy and mass between the surface and the atmospheric boundary-layer using eddy covariance techniques. Data were processed using PyFluxPro (v3.5.0) as described by Isaac et al. (2017). PyFluxPro produces a final, gap-filled product with Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) partitioned into Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (ER).</br> <br> The Calperum Chowilla site was established in July 2010 and is managed by the University of Adelaide, coordinated by Prof Wayne Meyer and Prof David Chittleborough of the Landscape Futures Program as part of the Environment Institute. This is a former sheep grazing property that has been destocked and is being managed as a conservation area in this type of ecosystem. The landscape is flat with a series of low east–west sand dunes. The dunes are remnants of a previous dry era and are mostly now stabilized by mallee (multi-stemmed Eucalypt trees) and various shrubs. It is a semi-arid environment fringing the River Murray floodplains of the Riverland. <br>

The lesser hairy­footed dunnart (<i>Sminthopsis youngsoni, Dasyuridae</i>) is a generalist marsupial insectivore in arid Australia, but consumes wolf spiders (<i>Lycosa spp., Lycosidae</i>) disproportionately often relative to their availability. This project tested the hypothesis that this disproportionate predation is a product of frequent encounter rates between the interactants due to high overlap in their diets and use of space and time. This data set focuses on overlap in the use of different microhabitats of wolf spiders (<i>Lycosa spp.</i>) and the lesser hairy­footed dunnart (<i>Sminthopsis youngsoni</i>) in the Simpson Desert, south­western Queensland Australia. Microhabitat use was determined by estimating the percentage cover of seven microhabitat variables and distance to nearest cover along trails left by individuals of each species­ group and a randomly orientated (control) trail for each actual trail as a measure of the availability of each microhabitat within the local environment. Trail length was also recorded and data was collected across 16 trapping grids at Main Camp during July and October (winter and Spring) in 2017. Differences in microhabitat use between trail types (actual vs control) and species (lycosids vs dunnarts) were assessed using non­metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and permutational analyses of variance (PERMANOVA). These analyses were performed using this data.

The lesser hairy-footed dunnart (<i>Sminthopsis youngsoni, Dasyuridae</i>) is a generalist marsupial insectivore in arid Australia, but consumes wolf spiders (<i>Lycosa spp., Lycosidae</i>) disproportionately often relative to their availability. This project tested the hypothesis that this disproportionate predation is a product of frequent encounter rates between the interactants due to high overlap in their diets and use of space and time. This data set focuses on dietary overlap, with diet and predatory behaviour of wolf spiders (<i>Lycosa spp.</i>), the lesser hairy-footed dunnart (<i>Sminthopsis youngsoni</i>) and prowling spiders (<i>Miturga spp.</i>, which represent other common invertebrate predators) were determined by tracking individuals and directly observing prey captures. Seventeen wolf spiders, 10 prowling spiders and 5 dunnarts were captured from Main Camp site in the Simpson Desert, south-western Queensland during 2016 with 30, 13 and 13 direct prey captures witnessed for each species respectively. This data is used for calculating overlap between prey taxa and prey size between these predators using the symmetrical version of MacArthur and Levin's and Pianka's overlap equation. However, it can also be used as a case study for calculating overlap between other species-groups.

The lesser hairy-footed dunnart (<i>Sminthopsis youngsoni, Dasyuridae</i>) is a generalist marsupial insectivore in arid Australia, but consumes wolf spiders (<i>Lycosa spp., Lycosidae</i>) disproportionately often relative to their availability. This project tested the hypothesis that this disproportionate predation is a product of frequent encounter rates between the interactants due to high overlap in their diets and use of space and time. This data set focuses on the dietary aspect. Specifically, invertebrate pitfall trapping was employed to quantify food availability and selectivity for both wolf spiders and <i>S.youngsoni</i>. Pitfall traps were deployed along trails left by tracked individuals, as well as control trails, of both species groups in the north-western Simpson Desert, Queensland. In total, invertebrate pitfall traps were deployed along 11 <i>S.youngsoni</i> and 8 <i>lycosa</i> trails in October 2016. Invertebrates were identified to the level of "Order", except for spiders (Order: Arachnida) and bees, wasps and ants (Order: Hymenoptera) which were identified to the "Family" level using identification keys and were also counted and grouped into seven size classes. This data was used for the following analyses: [1] a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test whether total numbers of arthropods differed between trail type and species, [2] non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and [3] permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) to test whether assemblages of arthropod prey and prey sizes differed between the two trail types for each species and between each species.

Wood block decomposition assessment at the Calperum Mallee site is part of a global program looking at the influence of microbes and invertebrates on wood decay. A common protocol was developed exposing small (~400 cm3) pieces of a wood-substrate (untreated Pinus radiata) to the environment excluding and not-excluding macroinvertebrates (e.g. termites) by the use of a plastic mesh.

Leaf traits for 11 populations of <i>Dodonaea viscosa</i> subsp. <i>angustissima</i> (Sapindaceae) opportunistically collected from across an elevational gradient (300 to 800 m above sea level) in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia. We present leaf traits for 266 individuals. Traits measured include leaf area and specific leaf area, and elevation.

<br>This release consists of flux tower measurements of the exchange of energy and mass between the surface and the atmospheric boundary-layer using eddy covariance techniques. Data were processed using PyFluxPro (v3.4.17) as described by Isaac et al. (2017). PyFluxPro produces a final, gap-filled product with Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) partitioned into Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (ER).</br> <br> The Calperum Chowilla site was established in July 2010 and is managed by the University of Adelaide, coordinated by Prof Wayne Meyer and Prof David Chittleborough of the Landscape Futures Program as part of the Environment Institute. This is a former sheep grazing property that has been destocked and is being managed as a conservation area in this type of ecosystem. The landscape is flat with a series of low east–west sand dunes. The dunes are remnants of a previous dry era and are mostly now stabilized by mallee (multi-stemmed Eucalypt trees) and various shrubs. It is a semi-arid environment fringing the River Murray floodplains of the Riverland. <br>

Leaf traits for 101 populations of <i>Dodonaea viscosa subsp. angustissima </i>(Sapindaceae) opportunistically collected across a ~1,000 km latitudinal north-south sequence with climates grading from the arid zone to the mesic Mediterranean zone. Additionally, we present leaf traits for 266 individuals on an attitudinal gradient in the Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia. Traits measured include leaf area and specific leaf area, as well as climatic variables associated with the collection sites. <p>Leaf area is known to be responsive to climatic conditions. This data could be combined with additional collections for Dodonaea viscosa or broader plant trait data sets to explore pant responses to environmental change.</p>

This data contains leaf area index calculated from Digital Cover Photography images taken at the Calperum Mallee core 1-ha site between 2013 - 2015.