Atlas of Living Australia

ObjectivesAlthough the health impacts of floods are well described, there is limited research on how flooding affects health systems, services and the health workforce—despite their central role in mitigating and responding to these impacts. This scoping review examines the nature and extent of existing research evidence on the impact of flooding events on Australia’s health system.DesignA scoping review following the Johanna Briggs Institute methodology.Data sourcesMEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest Central and PsycINFO were searched through to 22 October 2024. Reference lists of included publications were screened for additional publications.EligibilityWe included studies that reported any health system or health service disruption associated with flooding in Australia. Disruptions encompassed impacts on hospitals, primary care, health information systems, infrastructure, public health and health promotion activities, and the health workforce. We included peer-reviewed publications, including original research, commentaries, perspectives, editorials, letters to the editor, modelling studies and reviews. Grey literature was excluded.Data extraction and synthesisScreening of full texts and data extraction were completed by two independent reviewers. A health system disruption analytical framework was iteratively developed and was used to categorise the findings.ResultsOur search identified 6687 publications, of which 28 were included in the final review. 13 publications were original research publications and 15 were commentaries or reviews, with the majority published in the past ten years. Of the publications included, most focused on disruptions to hospital services and transport systems, including a reduction in health workforce availability, primarily due to the latter. Less than one-third reported impacts on health services for socially vulnerable populations. Floods affect multiple levels of the health system, intersecting with impacts across three key domains: infrastructure and health information systems, access to healthcare and the health workforce.ConclusionsOriginal research on how floods impact Australia’s health system, its services and workforce has been limited, particularly in relation to general practice, allied health and the differential impacts on socially vulnerable populations. Further research is needed to inform targeted disaster preparedness and response strategies and to understand the complex and intersecting impacts. The analytical framework developed in this review provides a way to conceptualise how floods disrupt different components of the health system and offers a foundation for future research and policy development to strengthen system resilience in the face of increasing flood risk.

To explore the acceptability to adults with diabetes of LISTEN (Low Intensity Mental Health Support via a Telehealth Enabled Network), a brief problem-solving intervention to reduce diabetes distress, facilitated by diabetes health professionals, and identify areas for refinement. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes experiencing diabetes distress (Problem Areas in Diabetes [PAID-20] score ≥ 25, or ≥2 on three or more items) who had participated in LISTEN. Data were analysed using deductive thematic analysis, applying the theoretical framework of acceptability. Participants reported that LISTEN was valuable, supporting them with the emotional side of their diabetes and equipping them with skills to address challenges experienced in managing their diabetes. They valued the diabetes-specific knowledge the health professional brought to the sessions. Key factors associated with their satisfaction with LISTEN were their positive rapport with the health professional and accountability. Telehealth delivery was acceptable due to its convenience and anonymity. They reported that participating in LISTEN required minimal effort. Most would be willing to pay a small fee to take part, though they believe that all people with diabetes should have equitable access to LISTEN. Minor areas for refinement include flexible delivery and clearly articulating the structured, stepwise nature of the programme in pre-program information. These findings indicate that LISTEN, delivered by diabetes health professionals via telehealth, is acceptable to this sample of Australian adults experiencing elevated diabetes distress and provides evidence-based strategies to strengthen engagement, delivery and implementation of LISTEN.

PremiseBiodiversity researchers often need to answer the question: “Which species of taxon X have been documented in (or near) spatial polygon Y?” Online databases with billions of occurrence records, including vouchered specimens and citizen science records, can provide the answer; however, quick spatial processing of huge biodiversity datasets can be difficult, and many general‐purpose tools are constrained by dataset size.Methods and Resultsinfinitylists is a Shiny application and R package that allows users to generate species checklists for a user‐specified taxon and area. It downloads taxon–country datasets (e.g., Madagascan geckos) from biodiversity data providers and uses an open source, column‐oriented data file for fast retrieval and visualization. Available as a mobile‐friendly web tool with preloaded data, it can also be run locally in R for very flexible applications.Conclusionsinfinitylists is an easy‐to‐use tool with applications including supplementing survey data, planning collecting expeditions, and informing gap‐filling. infinitylists is a complementary tool to existing databases to help field ecologists and naturalists globally.

The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) has undertaken several user surveys since 2008. These ranged from user needs analyses, functional reviews, user polls and user satisfaction surveys. Following each of these surveys, successive improvements to the ALA’s web presence and functionality have been made. There are still, however, several pain points that our stakeholders are identifying, which we can improve by refining our user experience and user interface (UX/UI). ALA recently consolidated previous findings and undertook additional stakeholder engagement regarding the current look-and-feel of the ALA’s web presence. Peer review of similar sites including the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and their approaches to design were included in this review, which culminated in a report summarising the perceptions and pain points of our users and provided recommendations to address these. Users perceptions of the ALA website are generally positive: users trust our website and there is no other resource in Australia, which consolidates such a large amount of biodiversity data. Despite this, it was clear that users still find navigating the different ALA services frustrating, and more complex than is needed. Users sometimes find it hard to locate the information they need and to understand what other questions ALA can be used to answer. There is also a disparity between the look and feel of ALA applications and the main website, with some applications requiring updating to use current ALA style. A set of user personas for ALA was developed (Suppl. material 1) as part of this review process, which informed user journeys, requirements and user stories for the species pages, home page and basic search designs. Work commenced in August 2023, focussing on designs for ALA species pages, home page, and basic search. With this UX/UI project, ALA staff collaborated with a design company to build and enhance in-house skills, reducing reliance on outsourcing for design needs and incorporating user considerations more effectively into our product designs. These designs have now been finalised and delivered, and work is in progress to implement them on the ALA's website. Comprehensive user testing was part of this process, which included validating low-fidelity and high-fidelity designs with users, incorporating changes and addressing identified pain points. This was a new approach to design for the ALA. The design project was a great success, and will result in a more modern site, which is much simpler and clearer for users to navigate and use. Focussing on external user feedback and input throughout the design project, rather than relying solely on feedback from within ALA, was key to this success. Consecutive to the UX/UI project, a program to update and improve compilation and management of ALA’s taxonomy was undertaken to address many issues with the ALA's taxonomic backbone. Three main issues were identified: The merged, composite nature of the taxonomy used in the ALA created duplications, misplacements and simple errors, exacerbated by flaws in name-matching data The static nature of the taxonomy (taxonomic changes in the system at the time required the entire ALA to be reindexed, making editing very difficult and time intensive) A subset of intractable geographically based taxonomic changes that cannot be handled by the current system including identification of populations and geographic splits The merged, composite nature of the taxonomy used in the ALA created duplications, misplacements and simple errors, exacerbated by flaws in name-matching data The static nature of the taxonomy (taxonomic changes in the system at the time required the entire ALA to be reindexed, making editing very difficult and time intensive) A subset of intractable geographically based taxonomic changes that cannot be handled by the current system including identification of populations and geographic splits This exercise to update the taxonomic backbone has improved the species pages by removing duplicate pages, increasing the accuracy of linking taxa to correct conservation status, and other content. ALA's taxonomy is fundamental master data that underpins the majority of applications and services that the ALA provides. Improving this greatly enhances the user experience and provides greater transparency regarding how the taxonomy was compiled. For the species pages, we were able to identify changes to the current page design and content to improve the quality and completeness of the content on them e.g., removing duplicate/irrelevant literature links, implementing the ability to be able to select focal images, removing unnecessary/superfluous content. Sources of authoritative descriptive information and images were sourced and approval to re-publish content negotiated with data providers. This provides benefits not only to our users but also to the content providers, as it will increase traffic to and discoverability of their website content as well. Once we have implemented new designs, we will monitor our support tickets, test the designs with users, and analyse our website metrics to see if there has been a significant change in visitation to or use of our website.

The Living Atlases project, facilitated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), has successfully operated for more than a decade, establishing collaborations with over 30 countries who have implemented ALA components within their respective environments. Over this period, technological advancements and the prevalence of cloud platforms have transformed the landscape of infrastructure management. In this presentation, we will explore innovative approaches to streamline the installation process of ALA, capitalizing on the benefits offered by cloud platforms and cutting-edge technologies. Furthermore, ALA has maintained a strong collaborative partnership with GBIF over the past four years, focusing on data ingestion pipelines and, more recently, engaging in shared user interface (UI) development. These improvements aim to enhance the maintainability of ALA modules, enabling organizations to leverage the advantages provided by cloud-based solutions and novel technologies.

Restricted access species data requires constrained shared access to meet conservation, legal and legislative requirements. Access to this data is essential for better evidenced-based decision-making; reduced regulatory timeframes and improved environmental and research outcomes. The Restricted Access Species Data Service (RASDS)*1 was developed to accept, track and manage data use requests, passing enquiries to data custodians, and providing a conduit for data and legal agreements between custodians and requesters. For those data custodians who wish to delegate queries to the RASDS, the service will ensure that datasets are transformed, attributed, and Digital Object Identifiers and metadata are applied. The data service will also manage reporting on data use. In this presentation we will demonstrate the RASDS, and discuss the future roadmap for the system. This abstract sets the scene for the rest of workshop and provides a starting point for the futher talks and discussions.

A cost-effective way of undertaking comprehensive, continental-scale, assessments of ecological condition is needed to support large-scale conservation planning, monitoring, reporting, and decision-making. Currently, cross-jurisdictional inconsistency in assessment methods limits the capacity to scale-up monitoring. Here we present a novel way to build a coherent continent-wide site-level ecological condition dataset, using cross-calibration methods to integrate assessments from many observers. We focus on the use of condition assessments from individual expert observers, a currently untapped resource. Our approach has two components: (1) a simple online tool that captures expert assessments at specific locations; (2) a process of calibrating and rescaling disparate expert evaluations that can be applied to the data to provide a consistent dataset for use in conservation assessments. We describe a pilot study, involving 28 experts, who contributed 314 individual site condition assessments across a wide range of ecosystems and regions throughout continental Australia. A correction factor for each expert was used to rescale the contributed site condition assessment scores, based on a set of 77 photographic images, each scored for their condition by multiple experts, using a linear mixed model. Our approach shows strong promise for delivering the volumes of data required to develop continental-scale reference libraries of site condition assessments. Although developed from expert elicitation, the approach could also be used to harmonize the collation of existing condition datasets. The process we demonstrate can also facilitate online citizen scientists to make site condition assessments that can be cross-calibrated using contributed images.

Citizen science continues to make a substantial contribution to a wide variety of scientific disciplines by allowing the public to be involved in activities like idea generation, study design, data collection and analysis. Although the pace of citizen science has exploded in recent decades, there remains untapped potential for scientific output through investment in research infrastructure that more specifically supports citizen science activities. Here, we provide a case study of how the biodiversity data aggregator the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) has supported the growth of citizen science over the past decade. We show that around one quarter of data collection projects provide around half of all species observation records in the ALA, supplementing specimen-based data to provide more comprehensive visualisation of species distributions. We then discuss how large data aggregators like the ALA support common challenges of the citizen science community by implementing tools to standardise complex data, safely store sensitive data, and improve participation and discoverability of citizen science data. Our findings demonstrate the importance of investment in research infrastructure to support and augment the scientific value of the citizen science movement globally.

This paper provides a perspective on how art and cross-cultural conversations can facilitate understanding of important scientific processes, outcomes and conclusions, using the Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO) as a case study. First, we reflect on our rationale and approach, describing the importance of deeper communication, such as through the arts, to the policy process; more enduring decisions are possible by engaging and obtaining perspectives through more than just a utilitarian lens. Second, we draw on the LivingData Website [http://www.livingdata.net.au] where art in all its forms is made to bridge differences in knowledge systems and their values, provide examples of how Indigenous knowledge and Western science can be complementary, and how Indigenous knowledge can show the difference between historical natural environmental phenomena and current unnatural phenomena, including how the Anthropocene is disrupting cultural connections with the environment that ultimately impact everyone. Lastly, we document the non-linear process of our experience and draw lessons from it that can guide deeper communication between disciples and cultures, to potentially benefit decision-making. Our perspective is derived as a collective from diverse backgrounds, histories, knowledge systems and values.

Abstract Bio‐logging data obtained by tagging animals are key to addressing global conservation challenges. However, the many thousands of existing bio‐logging datasets are not easily discoverable, universally comparable, nor readily accessible through existing repositories and across platforms, slowing down ecological research and effective management. A set of universal standards is needed to ensure discoverability, interoperability and effective translation of bio‐logging data into research and management recommendations. We propose a standardisation framework adhering to existing data principles (FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable; and TRUST: Transparency, Responsibility, User focus, Sustainability and Technology) and involving the use of simple templates to create a data flow from manufacturers and researchers to compliant repositories, where automated procedures should be in place to prepare data availability into four standardised levels: (a) decoded raw data, (b) curated data, (c) interpolated data and (d) gridded data. Our framework allows for integration of simple tabular arrays (e.g. csv files) and creation of sharable and interoperable network Common Data Form (netCDF) files containing all the needed information for accuracy‐of‐use, rightful attribution (ensuring data providers keep ownership through the entire process) and data preservation security. We show the standardisation benefits for all stakeholders involved, and illustrate the application of our framework by focusing on marine animals and by providing examples of the workflow across all data levels, including filled templates and code to process data between levels, as well as templates to prepare netCDF files ready for sharing. Adoption of our framework will facilitate collection of Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) in support of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and inter‐governmental assessments (e.g. the World Ocean Assessment), and will provide a starting point for broader efforts to establish interoperable bio‐logging data formats across all fields in animal ecology.