The Australian Phenology Product is a continental data set that allows the quantitative analysis of Australia’s phenology derived from MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data using an algorithm designed to accommodate Australian conditions, described in Xie et al. 2023. The product can be used to characterize phenological cycles of greening and browning and quantify the cycles’ inter and intra annual variability from 2003 to 2018 across Australia. Phenological cycles are defined as a period of EVI-measured greening and browning that may occur at any time of the year, extend across the end of a year, skip a year (not occur for one or multiple years) or occur more than once a year. Multiple phenological cycles within a year can occur in the form of double cropping in agricultural areas or be caused by a-seasonal rain events in water limited environments. Based on per-pixel greenness trajectories measured by MODIS EVI, phenological cycle curves were modelled and their key properties in the form of phenological curve metrics were derived including: the first and second minimum point, peak, start and end of cycle; length of cycle, and; the amplitude of the cycle. Integrated EVI under the curve between the start and end of the cycle time of each cycle is calculated as a proxy of productivity.

The dataset consists of species identity and projective foliage cover (PFC) of ground layer vascular plants from five sites located near Mareeba, in northern Queensland. The sites are located in eucalypt communities with altitudes ranging from 380 to 840 m. Data have been collected annually since 1992, in April and May, i.e. during the annual peak of plant species richness. At each site, data collection is carried out using ten 0.5 m² quadrats deployed within a permanently marked 50 x 10 m plot. For each quadrat, all plant species visible above ground are identified and sampled. PFC data for each species from the ten quadrats are averaged. Any additional species occurring within the 50 x 10 m plot is also recorded and assigned a PFC of 0.1% (Neldner and Butler, 2021).