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> .

The dataset comprises vegetation occurrence along a point intercept survey at the Calperum Mallee site in 2012

<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 (v3.4.15) 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 soil description, bulk density and soil moisture characteristics collected at the Calperum Mallee site in 2012.

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

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.

We generated a total of 2,313,977 16S archaeal raw reads across the 36 replicates (64,277 ± 23,335 SD per replicate). A total of 2,299,955 archaeal sequences (63,888 ± 23,473 SD per replicate) and 1,937 archaeal OTUs (54 ± 20 SD per replicate) remained for further analysis after quality filtering. The OTU data provide information on archaeal flux at an active restoration site at Mt Bold, a water catchment reserve of the Mt Lofty Ranges in South Australia, through a stagger of years and can be used accordingly.

Microsatellite genotype data for 3 eucalypt species. Data include progeny and adults from across a gradient of habitat fragmentation. These microsatellite data could be further used in additional analyses, e.g. genetic diversity. Samples collected from stands on eucalypts as follows: non-neighbouring adult trees had leaf and seeds collected. Leaf was used to genotype the adults. Seeds were germinated, tissue then collected, and the same microsatellites genotyped - i.e. open-pollinated progeny arrays. The dataset is possibly useful for meta-analysis or review of effects of habitat fragmentation on plants (e.g. mating system, genetic diversity etc).

<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>