Welcome to our 2024 Spring TERN newsletter, which brings with it the news that TERN has been awarded CoreTrustSeal Certification. This is a significant milestone for TERN since it gives TERN users around the world the assurance that the TERN data they are using are of the highest quality, with world-best end-to-end collection, collation and archiving processes. We acknowledge co-investment from the Queensland Government via its RICF grant, which made it possible for TERN to undergo the application process. Also, congratulations to Dr Siddeswara Guru and the TERN Data Service and Analytics team for an excellent outcome.
Did you catch up with the wonderful news that Australia’s ‘science Oscars’ recognised the work of Professor David Keith from University of NSW for his work in leading a major international collaboration to develop the world’s first Global Ecosystem Typology? Congratulations David on being awarded the Australian Institute of Botanical Science Eureka Prize for Excellence in Botanical Science on 4 September. The Global Ecosystem Typology is a framework for classifying, describing, conserving and restoring the world’s ecosystems.
With the release of the National Science and Research Priorities last month, Australia’s researchers and research infrastructure providers now have formal Australian Government guidance on where best to concentrate their combined efforts to help solve Australia’s greatest challenges.
At the launch, Australia’s Chief Scientist, Cathy Foley said, “Australians want a country that protects our unique environment. Australians want a country that moves quickly to clean energy in a way that creates new industries and maintains prosperity. Australians want a country that elevates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems and sees Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people leading on issues that affect their lives. Australians want everyone to have access to advanced healthcare no matter where they live. And we want a country that protects the strength of our democracy.”
Each Priority identifies critical research needed to achieve defined outcomes for the next 10 years. TERN’s national research infrastructure has relevance across all 5 priorities and it looks forward to supporting research that seeks to, for example, predict ecosystem and biodiversity changes caused by climate change and human actions; provide tools and techniques to collect and analyse environmental data; and understand carbon sources and sinks in soils, vegetation and so on.
In this newsletter we have an article from new staff member, Madeline Goddard, which talks about how she and her colleague Vicki Bennion, another new TERN member, are undertaking to build TERN’s coastal observation network. The aim for TERN’s coastal monitoring is to create national data characterising the vulnerability of coastal wetlands to sea level rise (and other factors), and ultimately to support management of Australia’s vegetated coastal habitats.
We also highlight how TERN is improving space-borne ecosystem monitoring through our drone capability, filling the time and detail gaps between less frequent field surveys and broadscale satellite image analysis. The ultra-high-resolution imagery that TERN plans to gather using drones across the 1000 one-hectare plot network is already emerging as a new means of quantifying land cover composition and pattern, plant occurrence and distribution, plant traits, community composition, vegetation height and structure.
Just back from the International Ecology School held this year in South Korea, TERN’s Education and Training Manager, Dr Eleanor Velasquez, provides a delightful article on the experiences she and 2 university students, Cooper Locke and Ella Cathcart-van Weeran, both from Queensland, had in the field on Jeju Island over the week-long event. Funded philanthropically, the annual School is nurturing a global community of emerging ecologists equipped to tackle the complex environmental challenges.
Our final article this month is an important new framework that has been developed under TERN leadership for integrating and harmonising invasive plant species data across state, territory and national jurisdictions to achieve a more effective plant invasion management approach in Australia for conservation and biosecurity.
Happy reading! I look forward to catching up again next month.
Dr Beryl Morris, Director, TERN Australia
