Ecology is all about connections: within and between biota, with the surrounding environment, and across multiple scales. Landscape ecology emphasises the importance of connections and interactions between scales, and the need to understand dynamics at different scales rather than the idea that one scale is more important than another.
MDBA’s remit, in terms of environmental outcomes, is to protect and restore water-dependent ecosystems, their ecosystem functions, and ensure they are resilient to climate change and other risks and threats. This requires understanding outcomes across the Basin, ideally assessed via multiple lines of evidence addressing dynamics at different scales. Trajectories and patterns in remotely sensed metrics can provide part of the picture, along with the aggregation of data collected at local sites.
But how do we bring together disparate pieces of information that are often collected in different ways? Can we encourage the collection of consistent data that better enables collation? Can we develop consistent approaches for interpreting outcomes?
Technical Guidance Documents (TGDs) aim to provide a framework to guide the collection, collation, analysis and evaluation of multiple pieces of information around an environmental value. The intent of these TGDs is to summarise existing knowledge on ecological and hydrological requirements, functions and values, spatial distribution and temporal dynamics. They will provide definitions and the level of detail required for objectives to be smart and spatially explicit, and to provide guidance on recommended monitoring and evaluation approaches, highlighting core, consistent metrics. Following consistent metrics over time is essential to understanding risks to environmental values in a spatially explicit way to aid discussions around adaptation.
In this presentation I will discuss the development of a TGD for lignum shrubland and swamps, and future opportunities through collaboration.