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> .

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

The qualities of these data include: (i) sound experimental design to detect a change between confounding factors, (ii) large sample size, (iii) microchipped animals, (iv) validated heamatological processing on the wild Australian lizard Tiliqua rugosa involving a collaboration between wildlife ecologists and veterinary scientists. Its reuse potential may involve a comparative analysis of body size, haematological parameters with other long-lived, medium-sized lizards, ectoparasite studies (Aponomma hydrosauri, Amblyomma libatum) for different host populations, and background justification for ecotoxicological (pesticide) studies in farmland. Using a using a multivariate, one-way nested Type I PERMANCOVA (analysis of covariance) design, body size, blood samples and ectoparasite presence was collected on a total of 119 animals from two different populations in southern Australia. One population was from an intensively managed cropping environment and one was from an adjacent a less intensively managed grazing environment. This study took place in extensive rangelands and the fragmented landscapes of the South Australian Murray Mallee cereal cropland in southern Australia. Adult and juvenile T. rugosa were captured for sampling at one rangeland (baseline) site and three severely modified (severe) landscape-scaled sites (LS1, LS2, LS3) over a large area (68 km × 84 km or 571,200 ha) across the croplands. Two animal sampling designs were used to collect data on physiological health (Design 1: Baseline vs Severe and Design 2 - Severe only). Data collected: Record No., Animal No., Treatment, Habitat Type, Landscape No., Connectivity Class, Age Class, Linear Body Size Index (LBSI), Heterophil (H) Field of View, Heterophil per microlitre, Total White Blood Cell Count, Absolute Heterophil Count, % Heterophil Count, Absolute Lymphocyte (L) Count, % Lymphocytes, H:L Ratio (Absolute), H:L Ratio (%), Absolute Monocytes, % Monocytes , Absolute Other Granulocytes , % Other Granulocytes, % Polychromasia, Snout-Vent Length (mm), Total No. Ectoparasites per Animal.

This dataset consists of measurements of the exchange of energy and mass between the surface and the atmospheric boundary-layer in a semi-arid mallee ecosystem north of the River Murray near Chowilla using eddy covariance techniques. <br /> <br /> The Calperum Chowilla site was established in July 2010 and is managed by the University of Adelaide (UA), 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 stabilised by mallee (multi-stemmed Eucalypt trees) and various shrubs. It is a semi-arid environment fringing the River Murray floodplains of the Riverland.<br />For additional site information, see http://www.landscapescience.org/. <br /><br /> This data is also available at http://data.ozflux.org.au .

This dataset contains records of vascular plant species from the Biological Survey of South Australia. Preparation from raw data obtained via AEKOS data portal involved the selection of data fields, the removal of intraspecific taxa (only genus and species used to define individual taxa) and removal of duplicate records and those not determined to species.

This data contains a list of all vascular plants surveyed in the Calperum Mallee site in 2013.

Soil collection and analysis of chemical and physical attributes was carried out at the Calperum Mallee site to provide contextual data for the Biomes of Australian Soil Environments (BASE) soil microbial diversity project.

The MODIS Land Condition Index (LCI) is an index of total vegetation cover (green and non-photosynthetic vegetation ), and so is also an index of soil exposure. The LCI is a normalised difference index based on MODIS bands in the mid-infrared portion of the spectrum. The index is produced from 500-m MODIS nadir BRDF adjusted reflectance (NBAR) data. As with all products derived from passive remote sensing imagery, this product represents the world as seen from above. Therefore, the cover recorded by this product represent what would be observed from a birds-eye-view. Therefore, dense canopy may prevent observation of significant soil exposure.

RSMA measures change in the relative contributions of photosynthetic vegetation (PV, or GV green vegetation), non-photosynthetic vegetation (NPV) and soil reflectance compared to a baseline date. These spectral changes correspond to changes in fractional cover relative to the baseline date. Full details on the RSMA method are presented in Okin (2007). One of the key advantages of the RSMA, its insensitivity to changes in soil spectra, is a result of the fact that it does not require us to know the soil reflectance profile for a region. This strength is also the cause of a major weakness in RSMA. Since the measure is relative to a baseline date, and the absolute cover levels for every pixel are unknown at the baseline, the RSMA does not convey the absolute cover levels at any other point in time. However, if the absolute cover levels are known at any point in time, it is theoretically possible to convert the RSMA to absolute relative spectral mixture analysis (ARSMA).<br> As with all products derived from passive remote sensing imagery, this product represents the world as seen from above. Therefore, the cover recorded by this product represent what would be observed from a bird's-eye-view. Therefore, dense canopy may prevent observation of significant soil exposure.

<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>