Australian Ecological Knowledge and Observation System (ӔKOS V1.1.0) map of site data holdings in northern Australia as of February 2014, data from the Northern Territory and Western Australia are progressively being added.
Free and open access to high quality, well-described ecological data is something that has eluded Australian and global researchers for a long time. Workarounds like networking amongst colleagues for datasets here and there have sufficed to date but now there is a service that provides open access to ecological data. TERN Eco-informatics’ Australian Ecological Knowledge and Observation System (ӔKOS) can save ecological data users such as researchers and land managers precious time and resources.
If you’re looking for high quality, well-described ecological plant data (such as survey and monitoring data) for northern Australia TERN’s ӔKOS Data Portal can now supply you with plot-based data for 3900 plant taxa from more than 4200 study sites. These have been contributed by TERN’s AusPlots Facility, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) and Queensland’s Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (DSITIA).
To select these data in AEKOS try using the ‘User Defined Location’ search term listed under ‘Location’ on the data portal’s search page. Draw a polygon of the area of interest using the square or triangle buttons and then click ‘Apply’ followed by ‘Submit’. For support on data downloads, read our Portal FAQs then if you need more support, contact esupport@tern.org.au or our Infoline +61 (0)8 83131270.
Published in TERN newsletter March 2014
