Welcome to our October-November newsletter. The weather is warming up across Australia and so it is appropriate that the final TERN webinar for 2024 on Wednesday 6 November is about drought. I hope you will be able to join us, either in real-time or later by accessing the recording to hear three amazing researchers, Georgy Falster (ANU), Anne Griebel (UTS) and Elisa Girola (TERN). This webinar will give a tantalising glimpse into some of Australia’s unfolding research and data collection that is being undertaken to give us a better understanding of one of the most pressing consequences of global climate change.
Talking of drought – we are pleased to report significant progress in the ongoing installation of TERN’s national soil moisture sensing network. Soil water influences almost every aspect of ecosystem behaviour, from water quality to soil fertility, from organic matter decomposition to plant growth. Australia has several globally top performing researchers of soil water dynamics. A well supported national soil water monitoring infrastructure will not only boost ongoing research but broaden Australia’s participation in the international Soil Moisture Network. The latter is an international cooperation to maintain global in-situ soil moisture data and provide the on-ground validation essential for improving global satellite products, and land surface, climate, and hydrological models. The first batch of TERN’s wireless soil moisture probes and base stations have already been deployed, primarily in southeastern Australia. In parallel, TERN is developing a data visualisation and analysis of the collected data, and soil samples from installation sites are being analysed for fundamental properties and water retention characteristics to ensure accurate calibration of the soil moisture sensors.
On the international front, we were represented at the International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network’s Open Science Meeting in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China in October by several people from our network.
- Tayla Lawrie from TERN’s Threatened Species Index talked about the challenges of tracking our progress towards international goals, such as those outlined under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
- Siddeswara Guru, the lead for TERN’s Data Services and Analytics platform, introduced the international audience to TERN’s data aggregation platform, EcoPlots, which allows users to access a wide range of ecological survey-based observations from multiple organisations
- Mike Liddell (JCU) covered TERN’s unique Robson Creek site in Far North Queensland where there is a core of classical field data from 1971 till the present, accompanied by data from technologies such as phenocams, Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and air-borne laser scanning (ALS)
- Matthew Luskin (UQ) from WildObs provided a paper on developments in processing camera trap data.
All of these presentations highlight our contributions to global efforts in biodiversity monitoring, data integration, and long-term ecosystem research.
Finally, congratulations to Professor Lindsay Hutley from the TERN NT node, on being the 2024 Radicle Science Awards NT winner of the “Excellence in Scientific Research” award. Lindsay has contributed so many insights to Australian ecosystem science, many coming from operating the North Australian Tropical Transect (NATT), which traverses a 1000km gradient of largely intact vegetation, providing an ideal ‘living laboratory’ and framework to investigate the influence of vegetation structural and floristic change and climate drivers on land-atmosphere exchange at a regional scale.
As we continue to advance our understanding of ecosystems and environmental change, your continued commitment to our mission is not only crucial for success but much appreciated. Until next month, happy reading.
Dr Beryl Morris, Director, TERN Australia
