GEOSS Ecosystem Mapping for Australia

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.

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.

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

Further information about the dataset can be found at GEOSS Ecosystem Map,TERN Knowledge Base .

Data and Resources

Map preview

See this dataset in the Digital Twin Victoria

Additional Information

Field Value
Published (Metadata Record) 02/03/2026
Last updated 03/03/2026
Organisation Australian Federal Government
License License Not Specified
Update Frequency Unknown