Humans having been changing the surface of our planet for millennia, however the pace is rapidly increasing. Habitat loss due to land-cover change is the main threat to 85% of IUCN Red List species. Additionally, land-cover change has drastic effects on global carbon and water cycles, among countless other ecosystem services. Understanding where, how, and why humans change the surface of the planet is essential to predicting and mitigating the worst impacts.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES: A NATIONAL SCALE LAND CAPABILITY MAP. Adams & Engert. (2022). Data in Brief.

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Ongoing land clearing is a key driver of biodiversity loss and climate change. Effective action to halt land clearing and land degradation ultimately relies on understanding patterns of land capability for production uses, in particular agriculture, as a key driver of land use. Here we describe a national agricultural land capability map for Australia, based on harmonized state agricultural land capability datasets and modelled pastoral capability. State-level agricultural land capability datasets capture regional variations in crop selection and suitability. Hence, we reclassified these datasets to fit a nationally consistent land capability ranking scheme. For regions in which agricultural capability data was not available, we modelled agricultural and pastoral capability and mapped this to the same ranking scheme. The national land capability dataset fills an immediate knowledge need for Australia. This dataset has wide potential for utilization, such as for retrospective analysis of land use policies and prospective regional planning initiatives to ensure forward looking policies and land use plans optimize land allocation.

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Agricultural capability map of Australia.
Citation: Adams, VM. & Engert, JE. (2022). Australian agricultural resources: A national scale land capability map. Data in Brief, 108852.

This file contains a national agricultural land capability map for Australia, based on state agricultural land capability datasets reclassified to a single agricultural land capability classification (NSW method) and modeled grazing suitability.