The Avon Native Vegetation Map

The Avon Native Vegetation Map (ANVM) layer represents the collation and digitising of over 450 vegetation maps for the Avon River Basin region. These maps have been derived from around 60 source documents and reports, many of them unpublished or of limited access. Vegetation attributes have been interpreted and standardised from 40 of these sources. For more information about the ANVM project visit the DEC website.

Information presented in NatureMap includes:

A map layer showing vegetation as polygons rendered (coloured) according to basic vegetation categories. Each polygon can be selected or queried to obtain a description of the vegetation it represents. There are also a number of non vegetation categories for landforms such as granite outcrops and salt lakes as well as disturbed and bare areas. These descriptions use a standardised terminology following the NVIS framework and have been translated from the source document descriptions and data. Some re-interpretation of the original source vegetation descriptions was necessary to achieve this standardisation. The vegetation description window that appears when a polygon is queried also carries a code number (VegID) that enables the original source description to be searched for by this ID number and viewed in a separate lookup table (PDF file 4Mb).
The original sources from which vegetation map and attribute data have been derived. Links are available for downloading PDF files of most of the source documents and metadata statements about the vegetation map information. See vegetation mapping source documents.

Using the vegetation map

This section describes how to view and query the Avon Native Vegetation Map layer in NatureMap. However it will help if you're already familiar with how NatureMap works more generally. Read the Help section for tutorials and a full description of the website's capabilities. You may also need to view some of the other additional Avon Native Vegetation Map Project documentation to fully interpret the query outputs. These include:

Native vegetation polygons can be viewed and queried in NatureMap as one of the Biodiversity layers.

Avon Native Vegetation

Other useful layers that can be viewed include the Avon Vegetation Map Project boundary and map centroid layer (see below).

Native Vegetation Map Project Boundary

This layer shows the project area for which vegetation maps and data were compiled. This area is defined by the Avon River Catchment Basin (Australia's River Basins 1997, Geosciences Australia, 2004).

Avon Native Vegetation Map Locations (centroids)

This layer gives a broad scale overview of the location and distribution of areas mapped and digitised. Many of the map areas are too small to view easily at the full extent of the project scale. By viewing the maps by their centroids, their location and distribution can be seen more clearly. These codes can be used to look up the source references.

Mapped areas that occurred within a 50km buffer outside the boundary were also included in the project. Most of the mapped areas occur west of the clearing line in the Agricultural zone where remnant vegetation clearing and fragmentation have been greatest.

Native Vegetation Map Layer (polygons)

This is the vegetation map layer showing digitised and attributed maps with vegetation polygons, rendered according to broad structural formations or key non vegetation categories. The polygons in this layer can be queried for a summary vegetation description output and source reference citation. A code number (VegID) is also given which can be used to find the original source description in a look up document. The polygons can also be used as a predefined area to select species records from other datasets held in NatureMap. (See the Help tab in NatureMap to find out more about how to carry out this and other kinds of query.)

To view the vegetation map layer in NatureMap go to a map view (e.g. under the Maps tab in the main menu bar, select Species Distribution, then By Area).

You will need to enable the data layer by clicking the Customise Map button underneath the map window and then expand the Biodiversity group of layers and select the Avon Native Vegetation Map layer (tick adjacent box and highlight layer name to make it active, then Refresh the view). The map navigation and query tools are located on the right hand side of the map window.

Many of the map areas are too small to see clearly at the full map extent so by enabling the Map Centroid layer as well, it is easier to locate an area of interest that has been mapped and then zoom in on it until the vegetation units come into view. By zooming in to a large enough scale the vegetation unit polygon labels will also begin to appear.

Vegetation map Centroid View	Vegetation Map Polygon zoom view

To view the map layer legend in NatureMap, click on Customise Map to open the layer selection window and (with the Avon Vegetation Map layer selected) open the Legend tab at the top to show the map legend render colours and codes.

You can view the legend as well as the legend code look up tables here:

By using the feature query tool to select a vegetation map layer polygon in the map window will return a result output window. For example:

The above result window shows the following information:

The number of records returned
There should only be one result for each polygon but at small scale zoom several polygons may be selected at once - thus returning several records.
The unique polygon identifier e.g. "214_072_0"
This is the code that links the polygon to the vegetation attributes in the Avon Native Vegetation Map Project Database
The Render label: e.g. "Shrubland/Heathland"
The render label describes:
1. The dominant broad structural formation for the polygon vegetation type
2. Represents the render category class derived from the NVIS Level I dominant growth form, - in this example: "Shrub", "Heath Shrub", "Chenopod Shrub" or "Samphire Shrub"
A vegetation description identifier: e.g. "707"
This is a unique code that relates to the vegetation description in the Avon Vegetation Map Database.

By using a lookup document, a search on this code can be done to find the original source description from which the NVIS translation was derived, for example:
- View record: VegID 707
- View and query the complete source description lookup document (Note: this is a large PDF document - 455pp)
A vegetation description/s based on the NVIS classification
"NVIS L 4" is the NVIS subformation description: this describes the vegetation structure represented by the Upper, Middle and Ground strata components and the dominant genera that represent them.

In the description the symbol:
- "\" is the stratum separator
- "/" is the co-dominant genus name separator (within a stratum)
- "+" denotes the dominant stratum
The terminology here follows that of the NVIS classification.
In most cases the NVIS descriptions were informed by correlating height and cover class intervals for a given growth form in the source classification system with the equivalent parameters in the NVIS classification.

The most frequently used source classification was Muir (1977)
- View a comparison of NVIS and Muir (1977) classification tables (A3 print format) showing height and cover classes according to growth form and the respective descriptive terms used in each classification
"NVIS L6" is the NVIS Sub association description: broadly this describes the Dominant floristic (Species level) and structural parameters for all substrata.
- View a summary of NVIS descriptions and codes
For more information about the NVIS descriptions and guide to interpreting the coding go to:
- Avon Native Vegetation Map Project: Methods and Data Interpretation
- The Australian Vegetation Attribute Manual, Version 6.0 on the NVIS website
A citation for the original source map and vegetation attributes
The reference or document from which the original map and the associated vegetation information were sourced.
- View the complete list of source documents from which maps were used for the project.

The above example represents a simple output showing a single attribute polygon i.e. with one vegetation description (Veg ID).

Multi-attributed (formation rendered) polygons

In some cases there may be more than one vegetation description for each polygon i.e. "multi-attribution", for example where the polygon represents a vegetation mosaic. There are a number of different circumstances under which polygon multi-attribution and mosaics may occur.

Examples of NatureMap polygon query output which show multi-attribution can be seen as follows:

248_039_0
Here three vegetation descriptions VegID 499, 500 and 497 have been attributed to this polygon, that is, all 3 vegetation types occur in the same polygon according to the source map. Each of these VegID codes can be used to search for the corresponding source descriptions in the lookup document.

The render label: "Shrubland/Heathland" is also followed by the comment "Override".

Each vegetation description (VegID) is rendered according to the broad structural formation derived from its NVIS level 1 growth form. Where more than one VegID occurs, and these represent different growth forms, there may be a conflict of rendering.

For polygon 248_039_0:

VegID 499 and 500 represent "Shrubland/Heathland" (dominant growth form: "Shrub")

VegID 497 represents "Mallee" (dominant growth form: "Mallee Shrub")

Therefore the "Override" is considered to be the most representative or dominant formation amongst the three with which to render the polygon i.e. "Shrubland/Heathland".
The override is a discretionary function driven from an accessory table to the main database, the records of which are not altered in the process.)
094_LA0_57
Here two NVIS descriptions are shown for polygon 094_LA0_57. Each NVIS description is a summary of several of source descriptions:
1. VegID: 1020, 1021 (Shrubland/Heathland)
2. VegID: 992, 993 (Mallee)
The override is that:
- "Shrubland/Heathland" is the dominant formation in the polygon
- The NVIS descriptions displayed are generalizations of more complex source descriptions represented by the respective VegID numbers. The VegID numbers can be used to find and view the source descriptions to see what the NVIS descriptions were derived from. This was done to help simplify the query in the spatial viewer. The primary information associated with each VegID in the database remains unaltered.

Non-vegetation rendered polygons

Query reports may show polygons with a non-vegetation render label only, with no accompanying vegetation description/s:

Where:

a polygon represents a geomorphic feature, such as a salt lake or granite outcrop, for which vegetation is undefined in the source document.

For example: 323_016_19
a polygon represents a geomorphic feature which has been attributed with one or more vegetation descriptions but where the vegetation attributes:
- Cannot be construed as occupying the whole extent of the polygon or it is misleading to imply that they do.
- Are complex and can be more appropriately summarised by the predominant geomorphic context.
In these situations the render label will apply as an "override" function. The VegID numbers of the corresponding vegetation attributes will also be displayed for source description lookup. The source descriptions can often clarify the relationship of the vegetation to the polygon.

For example: 286_089_2

This polygon represents a granite outcrop feature with an override label "Rock"

From the source description look up it can be found that for the vegetation attributed to the feature in the source map:

VegID 1322 represents a low herb layer on granite pavements

VegID 1323 represents a perimeter thicket on the margins of the outcrop

Where these attributes were too fine to delineate at the scale mapped.

See the Non-vegetation render code lookup table for code descriptions.