Australian Grass Cover Survey Data from TERN AEKOS, 2014

A 2014 snapshot of plot-based vegetation records for the Poaceae family (grasses) across Australia, extracted from the now-decommissioned TERN AEKOS repository. The data was compiled from multiple state and national survey programs, including ABARES Ground Cover Reference Sites and TERN AusPlots Rangelands. It was processed via SQL queries to create a flat table containing survey metadata, site coordinates, species, and abundance or cover measurements.

Use Cases

• Modeling continental grass cover distribution based on plot coordinates and species records.
• Analyzing species abundance and biomass trends across different Australian regions and survey programs.
• Studying temporal changes in vegetation by combining the 2014 snapshot visit dates with other temporal data.

Strengths

• Integrates data from six distinct, high-quality Australian ecological survey programs.
• Data was extracted and processed using a defined SQL methodology, suggesting a structured format.
• Species filtering was performed using a verified genus list from the Atlas of Living Australia.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• The source repository (TERN AEKOS) is decommissioned, complicating data provenance verification.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's Data Discovery, aggregating from ABARES Ground Cover Reference Sites Database, Biological Survey of South Australia, and other state programs.

Collection Method

Extracted via the AEKOS portal download feature, loaded into PostgreSQL, and queried with custom SQL to filter for Poaceae species.

Time Range

Snapshot extracted on 13 March 2014; underlying survey visit dates are included but their full range is unspecified.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-13 13:44:36.384814; freshness should be verified as the underlying data is from 2014.

Geography

Australia, with data sourced from multiple state-specific surveys (South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia).