Australian conventions and resources
Useful resources include the Atlas of Living Australia(Opens in a new tab/window), the Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Atlas(Opens in a new tab/window), and classifications of ecosystem services(Opens in a new tab/window) (used both internationally and in Australia).
Several official lists and systems in Australia provide standardised references and terminology:
- National Vegetation Information System(Opens in a new tab/window)
- Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia(Opens in a new tab/window)
- National Reserve System(Opens in a new tab/window), including protected areas(Opens in a new tab/window)
- Weeds of National Significance(Opens in a new tab/window).
Did you know? Between 7% and 10% of all species on Earth occur in Australia.
Ecosystems/habitat
Use initial capitals for the names of official lists and systems that provide standardised references and terminology for different aspects of biodiversity:
National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) National Reserve System (NRS) Protected Areas Specially Protected Areas Weeds of National Significance (WoNS)
Use lower case for terms that are not formal names:
major vegetation groups (MVGs)
Reminder. Initial capitals are used only for formal names. Informal and collective (plural) references to the same item do not need capitals.
Forests
International standards and resources
An international classification of forests(Opens in a new tab/window) has been compiled for the Global Forest Resources Assessment of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Note that the terms do not always comply with Australian editorial conventions, particularly in relation to the use of capital letters.
Australian conventions and resources
Australian forest types are defined in the National Forestry Inventory(Opens in a new tab/window) (NFI).
Use lower case for both FAO (international) and NFI (Australian) groups and subgroups of forest:
primary forest other wooded land forest designated for production [international]
eucalypt low woodland industrial plantations other native forest [Australian]
Use initial capitals for specific forest tree types:
Eucalypt Acacia Mangrove Rainforest
Use lower case for other classifications:
woodland forest open forest low forest tall forest mallee forest state forest
Hyphenate old-growth forest.
National parks, reserves and conservation areas
Use initial capitals for the formal names of national parks, nature reserves, and state and territory recreation and conservation areas:
Flinders Ranges National Park Belanglo State Forest Alice Springs Desert Park
but use lower case for generic uses or plural expressions:
the national parks of New South Wales
Reminder. Initial capitals are used only for formal names. Informal and collective (plural) references to the same item do not need capitals.
See also Geography.
Use an initial capital for Crown when referring to Crown land.
Species
International standards and resources
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a global leader in research on biodiversity and biodiversity status. It runs various species programs and oversees the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(Opens in a new tab/window).
Australian conventions and resources
In Australia, the Australian Government, and state and territory governments maintain lists of threatened species and ecological communities under legislation. State and territory lists do not necessarily conform to the national list, either in the species listed or the category they are listed under. See the table below for an overview of these lists.
See Names of organisms for information on how to write species names.
Present the main categories of the IUCN Red List in lower case:
least concern near threatened vulnerable endangered critically endangered extinct in the wild extinct
Also use lower case for threatened species categories listed in the table below:
vulnerable endangered critically endangered extinct
For threatened ecological communities, use the capitalisation that appears in the relevant lists:
Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens Grassy Eucalypt Woodland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain
Lists of threatened species and ecological communities under legislation