According to a survey conducted in Australia in 2022, approximately seven in ten respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the country is better off because it has many racial and cultural groups. The share of respondents with this opinion has increased by close to ten percent since 2014.

In 2023, 89 percent of those surveyed thought that multiculturalism was good for Australia. 78 percent of respondents also agreed that immigrant diversity makes Australia a stronger nation.

These information sheets provide statistics and trends in employment participation and workforce demographics. There is no 'typical' picture of someone engaged or employed in our primary industries.Show full descriptionThese information sheets provide statistics and trends in employment participation and workforce demographics. There is no 'typical' picture of someone engaged or employed in our primary industries. The Australian agricultural, fisheries and forestry workforce is made up of a diverse range of people of varying ages, genders, cultural backgrounds who contribute significantly to these primary industries. In addition to being an important source of labour, women, youth, Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse people have been fundamental to the sustainability, competiveness and productivity of primary industries in Australia over many years.

In a survey conducted in 2021 about video gaming in Australia, 60 percent of the respondents agreed that games needed more diversity in accessibility and inclusion. An almost equal share of respondents stated that video games needed more diversity in age.

Map showing the distribution of phylogenetic diversity for passerine birds in Australia. Underpinning data sourced from the Australian Natural Heritage Assessment Tool (ANHAT), Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy. For further information on ANHAT see: http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/publications/australian-natural-heritage-assessment-tool

Map prepared by the Department of Environment and Energy in order to produce Figure BIO7 (c) (map 1 of 2) in the Biodiversity theme of the 2016 State of the Environment Report, available at http://www.soe.environment.gov.au

The map service can be viewed at: http://soe.terria.io/#share=s-3mnGTPLjSAKwZnsIJxXeAjhkObb

Downloadable spatial data also available below.

These data are spatial layers of predicted patterns in plant community diversity across Australia, as presented and described in full in Mokany et al. (2022). The layers represent spatial predictions from models of plant community species richness and plant community compositional dissimilarity. The plant diversity models utilised data from 115,086 plant community survey plots across Australia, and environmental predictors from fine resolution (3 arc-second; ≈90m) spatially complete layers. The models were projected across Australia and the resulting layers provided here. The original spatial layers were also aggregated to courser spatial resolutions (0.0025° (≈250m) and 0.01° (≈1km)) which are also provided here, for applications that require smaller data files. Two additional spatial layers are also provided, synthesising the diversity model projections: (i) compositional uniqueness; (ii) diversity importance (both only provided at 0.01° (≈1km) resolution). Lineage: Methods The methods used to generate these data are described in full in Mokany et al. (2022). In summary, 115,083 plant community survey plots from the HAVPlot dataset (Mokany et al. 2022b) were selected and used as the basis for modelling native plant species richness and compositional dissimilarity.

Observed species richness values in each plot were scaled to a common area of 400 m2 using the species-area power model (S = cAz) with a scalar (z) value of 0.25 used for all plots. The scaled species richness was then modelled as a function of nine environmental predictor variables using Generalized Additive Modelling, with the model explaining 33.0 % of the deviance in species richness. The model was then projected across Australia at 3 arc-second resolution (≈90m) using spatially complete predictor layers. The predicted species richness values were aggregated to 0.0025° (≈250m) and 0.01° (≈1km) spatial grids, using the mean of the finer resolution grid cell values.

Observed compositional dissimilarities (Sorensen’s) between pairs of plots were scaled to a common area of 400 m2 using the species-area power model, with a scalar (z) value of 0.25 used for the species richness of each plot, and a scalar (z) value of 0.4 used for the number of shared species between two plots (Mokany et al . 2013). The scaled compositional dissimilarity was then modelled as a function of eight environmental predictor variables and geographic distance, using Generalized Dissimilarity Modelling (GDM), with the model explaining 32.7 % of the deviance in compositional dissimilarity (intercept = 1.3). The model was then projected across Australia at 3 arc-second resolution (≈90m) using spatially complete predictor layers. The GDM transformed spatial layers for each predictor were aggregated to 0.0025° (≈250m) and 0.01° (≈1km) spatial grids, using the mean of the finer resolution grid cell values.

The spatial predictions of species richness and compositional dissimilarity were used to derive two summary layers, provided here at 0.01° (≈1km) resolution. The first summary layer is the predicted compositional uniqueness, being the mean compositional dissimilarity of each grid cell to the rest of Australia (implemented using a random sample of 1 % of all grid cells) (Mokany et al. 2022). The second summary layer is an estimate of diversity importance, which combines both the species richness predictions and the compositional uniqueness predictions. To derive this layer, we normalised the compositional uniqueness values to a 0–1 range, we normalised the predicted species richness values to a 0–1 range, and took the mean of these two normalised values for each grid cell across Australia.

Data products The spatial layers are provided in three separate folders, one for each of the spatial resolutions: ‘90m’ (3 arc-second, 0.000833°); ‘250m’ (9 arc-second, 0.0025°); ‘1km’ (0.01°).

Within each folder, a species richness prediction grid is provided (‘Richness…’), and ten GDM transformed predictor layers are provided (‘Dissimilarity_GDMtran…’) (Mokany et al. 2022c).

Withing the ‘1km’ folder, the compositional uniqueness layer (‘CompositionUniqueness_1km’) and the diversity importance layer (‘DiversityImportance_1km’) are also provided.

All spatial layers are in GDA94 geographic projection (EPSG:4283) and geotiff format, with no-data values set to -9999.

References Mokany, K., et al. 2013. Scaling pairwise β-diversity and α-diversity with area. - Journal of Biogeography 40: 2299-2309. Mokany, K., et al. 2022. Patterns and drivers of plant diversity across Australia. Ecography (in press) Mokany, K., et al. 2022b. Harmonised Australian Vegetation Plot dataset (HAVPlot). - CSIRO Data Access Portal, https://doi.org/10.25919/5cex-4s70 Mokany, K., et al. 2022c. A working guide to harnessing generalized dissimilarity modelling for biodiversity analysis and conservation assessment. - Global Ecology and Biogeography 31: 802-821.

Spatial layers are provided representing predicted community-level biodiversity patterns for several taxonomic groups (birds, reptiles, fungi) across Australia at 9s resolution (~250 m). Species richness (α-diversity) and pairwise compositional dissimilarity (β-diversity) were modelled by combining spatial environment layers with species occurrence observations and survey data. The models were projected spatially to produce spatial layers (maps) of predicted diversity. Lineage: Methods The methods used to generate these data are described in full in the supporting file provided (‘DiversityLayers_Methods’). In summary, spatial environment layers that could potentially help to predict patterns of community level diversity across Australia were obtained from a variety of sources and aligned to a common 9s resolution (~250 m) spatial grid for Australia. Biological records for birds and reptiles were obtained from the Atlas of Living Australia, aggregated to spatial grid cells and those grid cells with adequate number of species recorded to be considered a ‘community sample’ used to model community diversity patterns. For fungi, surveyed compositional data were used from Bisset et al. (2016).

To model species richness, we used generalised additive modelling (GAM), with environmental predictor variables selected through interactive backward elimination variable selection process. The final models of species richness for each taxonomic group were projected spatially across Australia.

To model pairwise community compositional dissimilarity we used generalised dissimilarity modelling (GDM), with environmental predictor variables selected through interactive backward elimination variable selection process. The final models of compositional dissimilarity for each taxonomic group were projected spatially across Australia, creating a model transformed layer for each predictor variable.

Data products The spatial layers are provided in a separate folder for each taxonomic group. Within each folder, a species richness prediction grid is provided (‘Taxa_Richness’), and GDM transformed predictor layers are provided, one for each predictor variable used in the model (‘Taxa_GDM_tran…’). See Mokany et al. (2022) for a description of how these GDM transformed predictor layers are generated and how they can be used to predict the compositional dissimilarity between any pair of grid cells.

All spatial layers are in GDA94 geographic projection (EPSG:4283) and geotiff format, with no-data values set to -9999.

References Mokany, K., et al. 2022. A working guide to harnessing generalized dissimilarity modelling for biodiversity analysis and conservation assessment. - Global Ecology and Biogeography 31: 802-821.

This dataset is about book series. It has 1 row and is filtered where the books is Strategic management of diversity in the workplace : an Australian case. It features 10 columns including number of authors, number of books, earliest publication date, and latest publication date.

Multicultural Australian English: The New Voice of Sydney (MAE-VoiS) is a project funded under the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship scheme. The aim of the project is to help us understand the speech patterns of young people from complex culturally and linguistically diverse communities across Sydney. Understanding how adolescents from different ethnicities use speech patterns to symbolically express their diverse sociocultural identities offers a window into understanding a rapidly changing Australian society.

Australia is one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the world yet the complex relationship between speech production and cultural diversity is largely unknown in 21^st century multicultural Australia. Our current understanding of speech patterns in Australia is based on an Anglo-centric model that does not represent the community in which we live. Through this project we will generate an integrated and inclusive model of Australian English, based on our meticulous phonetic analysis of young people's speech. Project outcomes are expected to inform sociophonetic theories of variation, ethnicity, and identity. A unified model of Australian English that provides a structure to underpin advances in speech research at the intersection of phonetics/phonology, ethnicity, and society is critical for a deeper understanding of speech patterns in child language acquisition, atypical populations, second language learners, youth social cohesion; and for applications associated with immigration, refugee/asylum seeker integration, forensic speech science, national security, law enforcement, and social robotics.

The MAE-VoiS corpus comprises audio recordings of 186 teenagers from 38 language backgrounds who each engaged in a picture naming task and a conversation with a peer facilitated by a local research assistant. Participants also completed an extensive ethnic orientation survey, and their parents completed a demographic/language survey. Speakers were located in five separate areas in Sydney that varied according to the dominant language backgrounds of speakers in the communities (four non-English dominant areas – Bankstown, Cabramatta/Fairfield, Inner West, Parramatta; and one English dominant area – Northern Beaches).

BTU represents a broad taxonomic unit, # pops, # species and % sp. represent the data used in present study (%). Known Aus. species represents the number of species in public databases as reported by [39], presented both as total number (#) and as a % of the total recorded marine species for the Australian economic zone (%). Studied (%) is the percentage of recorded Australian species used in the present study. The table does not include all major marine groups in Australia, but lists the three largest groups not studied.

Metadata record for data from AAS (ASAC) project 3010. Public Pycnogonids are primitive, bizarre arthropods. Found worldwide, Antarctic pycnogonids are the most diverse, abundant, and include some of the most spectacular forms. Near 250 species from the region are known, many in need for taxonomic revision, and more species new to science likely to be found. This project will document diversity of pycnogonids and target widely distributed species to obtain morphological, genetic and ecological information on distribution patterns and evolutionary history. This combined approach should provide a better insight of the roles of sea spiders in Antarctic biodiversity and the evolution and radiation of Antarctic marine benthic fauna. Project objectives: 1. To document the diversity of Australian Antarctic pycnogonids at species level and to target species with potential to investigate ecological interactions, zoogeographical patterns and genetic variability. 2. To examine connectivity patterns and genetic differentiation in populations of target species of pycnogonids across large spatial scales inferring diversification processes and possibly speciation rates. 3. To investigate the distribution patterns and possible mechanisms of dispersal of species with apparent wide distributions (e.g. circumpolar distribution, Antarctic -Pacific distribution and Antarctic-Arctic), based on molecular tools. 4. To explore how sea spiders fit evolutionary models testing the origin of deep sea fauna and proposing hypothesis for colonisation mechanisms and radiation processes, as many pycnogonid taxa from the deep sea are also represented on the continental shelf. 5. To resolve phylogenetic questions regarding the affinities among Antarctic species and lower latitude species to understand the evolutionary history of a highly diverse and cosmopolitan lineage (Callipallenidae-Nymphonidae). Details from previous years are available for download from the provided URL. Taken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report: Objective 1 - During this second year of the project more than 500 lots of unsorted samples of pycnogonids are being sorted and identified, many to species level. -In July 2009, 130 lots from the Ross Sea and Subantarctic areas deposited at NIWA in NZ, were sorted, identified and many of them barcoded. Some material has been requested on loan to continue taxonomic studies probably leading to description of new species. -In November 2009, more than 330 lots of CEAMARC samples of sea spiders were received on loan from the Natural History Museum in Paris, where they were deposited in 2008. This material is extremely relevant not only for its diversity but also numbers of individuals per sample. CEAMARC samples (including additional 136 samples from AAD) have provided a unique opportunity to obtain appropriate numbers of individuals of target species such Nymphon australe, with more than 1000 individuals collected. This material is currently being used in analyses about genetic differentiation and diversity at different spatial scales. -Current work in progress on the species level identification of the CEAMARC material would lead to a proper characterisation of the pycnogonid fauna from an extremely important area of the Australian Antarctic territory. We have identified Nymphon australe, Colossendeis megalonyx, Nymphon spp., Austropallene spp. and Pallenopsis spp, as the most frequent and abundant Australian Antarctic pycnogonids and it is expected to correlate abundance and occurrence patterns to other biotic and abiotic parameters that could explain the numbers and diversity of these taxa in the area. - I co-authored a pioneering paper with H. Griffiths (senior author) from BAS and others, on the diversity and biogeography of Antarctic pycnogonids, which was submitted last month to journal Ecography. - At least two new species to science are to be described based on CEAMARC material currently studied. Objective 2 -There is a publication in press (Arango et al.) in the journal Deep-Sea Research II presenting a genetic analysis of the most abundant Antarctic sea spider species Nymphon australe. The study includes 131 individuals of N. australe collected from Antarctic Peninsula, Weddell Sea and East Antarctica. -Additional material of N. australe from CEAMARC made available by MNHN in Paris is currently being analysed to expand the published study and focus on the possible explanations for such wide distribution of a species with apparent limited dispersal capabilities. - Just recently, I established research collaboration with Dr. F. Leese at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, who is currently interested in the population genetics and genetic connectivity of Antarctic sea spiders. This collaborative effort should prove to be very successful in terms of geographic cover of samples, molecular markers used and analyses implemented. Objective 3 -The paper in press mentioned above addresses the question of circumpolarity of N. australe and finds it might be one of the few 'true' circumpolar species given that the dataset does not reflect cryptic speciation. Preliminary data for other species are showing contrasting results and might reflect 'unknown' species considered cryptic or perhaps just reflects necessity of fine detail taxonomy--. This work on Colossendeis megalonyx is partly in collaboration with Leese's team in Germany. -Material from New Zealand, Tasmania and NSW are currently used for analysis on phylogenetic affinities between Antarctic and non-Antarctic taxa, and also to compare patterns of genetic differentiation among different habitats and taxa. Achelia species distributed from Antarctica to tropical areas will be looked at in a future project depending on funding. Objective 4 -Objective 4 part of a proposal submitted to Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) to study deep phylogeny and divergence times of Pycnogonida to understand evolutionary links between Antarctic, deep-sea and Australian shallow waters species, in collaboration with J. Strugnell. During the first and second year of the project advances have been made in terms of literature review, discussion with specialists and most importantly acquisition of material for molecular work that will complement the dataset published in 2007 (Arango and Wheeler 2007). Objective 5 - Since September 2009 I have been actively working on constructing datasets for phylogenetic analyses of Nymphon, the most diverse and abundant taxon of sea spiders in the world, and their closest relatives, the callipallenids, with centre of diversity in Australasia. I am working on including morphological and molecular characters for as many representative species as possible. So far, 30 species are included, and at least 50 morphological are being scored. More species are desired, so I am permanently seeking donation of material, collaborations, etc. the genes COI and 16S are sequenced for at least 50% of the samples included so far, I am currently investigating other molecular markers that might be suitable to resolve a phylogeny at this level. - Given the availability of material from many different species of Colossendeidae, and the relevance and impact of this group --being the family of the giant sea spiders, I am currently collecting material (i.e. tissue samples, DNA sequences, morphological descriptions) to work on the phylogeny of this cosmopolitan family with more than 40 species in the Southern Ocean. At least 15 species have been sequenced so far. The same techniques and methodology as for the Nymphon phylogeny are being applied.

Quality: The values provided in temporal and spatial coverage are approximate only. Taken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report: Field work: The samples obtained for this project so far have been collected as part of collecting cruises onboard Aurora Australis (CEAMARC 2008), 'Polarstern' 2008 (Wedell Sea), Tangaroa (Ross Sea) and other international cruises mostly those from Bristish Antarctic Survey. These samplings have provided excellent material of the project. Research teams from the AAD, particularly the diving program led by Dr. Jonny Stark, co-investigator of the project have also made contributions of sea spiders material. Laboratory activity/analysis: Laboratory activities consist of: DNA extraction, amplification and sequencing: 665 samples of sea spiders fro the mentioned collections have been processed for sequencing at the Barcoding facility in Guelph, Canada which sequence a fragment of the mitochondrial gene Cytochorme Oxidase I (COI) currently used as the barcoding gene. In the meantime, 620 samples in total have been processed for sequencing at the Queensland Museum to obtain a fragment of the mitochondrial gene 16S, providing complementary resolution to that provided by COI. Microscopy for taxonomic identification: -The large size and unsorted condition of the collection from CEAMARC deposited in Paris has slowed down the progress of the project and the microscopic identification. 40% of the material has been sorted and identified to at least genus level. -Description of two new species is currently in progress.

This dataset was used to examine the phylogeographic genetic structure of Eastern three lined skink Bassiana duperreyi. It comprises SNP data used for population genetics and phylogenetic reconstruction. The data were used to provide foundational work for the detailed taxonomic re-evaluation of this species complex and to reinforce the need for biodiversity assessment to include an examination of cryptic species and/or cryptic diversity below the level of species. Such information on lineage diversity within species and its distribution in the context of disturbance at a regional scale can be factored into conservation planning regardless of whether a decision is made to formally diagnose new species taxonomically and nomenclaturally. Methods Briefly, samples of tissue were collected from across the range of the species, Bassiana duperreyi, including from Australian Museums, DNA was extracted, double digested and genotyped for SNP markers using the technology of Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT, Canberra). The data were analysed in the software package dartR available on the CRAN repository, as per the script provided. Structure across the landscape was used to inform assessment of the impact of regional scale disturbance. Skin tissues and extracted DNA were provided to DArT for processing, sequencing and informative SNP marker identification using DArTseqTM (Kilian et al., 2012). DArT performed a genome complexity reduction technique using double digestion of genomic DNA with two restriction endonucleases PstI (5′- CTGCA|G- 3′) and SphI (5′- GCATG|C- 3′), fragment-size selection and next-generation sequencing on an Illumina HiSeq2500 (CA, USA). Sequences were processed using proprietary DArT analytical pipelines (for full details refer to Georges et al. (2018). Initial filtering was based primarily on average and variance of sequencing depth, average allele counts and call rate across samples. Approximately one-third of samples were sequenced twice as technical replicates, with scoring consistency identifying high quality SNP markers with low error rates. We applied further quality control filtering using the R package dartR 2.7.2 (Gruber et al., 2018; Mijangos et al., 2022). These filters were for reproducibility across technical replicates (< 99%), call rate removing both loci and individuals with > 5% missing data, read depth (< 8x and above > 50x) to remove low coverage SNPs and potential paralogs and by removing all but one of multiple SNPs per locus.

The data comprises the digitised boundaries for Refugia cited in Morton et al. (1995). Several types of refugia are defined to take into account the fact that different concepts may be involved in the idea of a refuge. A total of 9 categories were defined : Islands, Mound springs, Caves, Wetlands, Gorges, Mountain ranges, Ecological refuges, Refuges from exotic animals, and Refuges from clearing. Information on the distribution of plants and animals in arid and semi-arid Australia was surveyed in order to determine the identity and location of foci of biological diversity. These data were used to identify locations thought to constitute refugia. The main value of each refuge is identified, and comments provided on the general values of the refuge, land tenure and threatening processes affecting it. Estimates were made of the importance of each refuge ie. a rating [1-9], and a classification [extreme (ratings 7-9) /highly significant (4-6)/ significant (1-3)] to enable comparisons between them.The digital coverage was compiled from digitised boundaries for all extreme and highly significant refugia, and 6 significant refugia, with the remaining significant refugia selected from the existing Directory of Important Wetlands coverage, along with raster data for the Nullabor Caves and Mallee remnants.The coverage contains the following attributes:refug_no, url, name, category, importance, score.The url is to enable linking of each refuge to its description in a html document.NOTE: This item refers to a dataset with restricted access. The related metadata is available for download as a Word document as necessary. Additional information about this dataset or requests for access to the data should be directed to geospatial@dcceew.gov.au

Map showing the distribution of phylogenetic diversity for vascular plants in Australia. Underpinning data sourced from the Australian Natural Heritage Assessment Tool (ANHAT), Australian Government …Show full descriptionMap showing the distribution of phylogenetic diversity for vascular plants in Australia. Underpinning data sourced from the Australian Natural Heritage Assessment Tool (ANHAT), Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy. For further information on ANHAT see: http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/publications/australian-natural-heritage-assessment-tool Map prepared by the Department of Environment and Energy in order to produce Figure BIO7 (a) (map 1 of 2) in the Biodiversity theme of the 2016 State of the Environment Report, available at http://www.soe.environment.gov.au The map service can be viewed at: http://soe.terria.io/#share=s-stuTwUO1lqM3x71ulqHRW4Zv1Of Downloadable spatial data also available below.

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Mound, Laurence A., Tree, Desley J. (2022): Phlaeothripidae (Thysanoptera) diversity in Australia, with three new generic records and two new species. Zootaxa 5104 (2): 291-296, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5104.2.8

Genetic diversity within species may promote resilience to environmental change, yet little is known about how such variation is distributed at broad geographic scales. Here we develop a novel Bayesian methodology to analyse multi-species genetic diversity data in order to identify regions of high or low genetic diversity. We apply this method to co-distributed taxa from Australian marine waters. We extracted published summary statistics of population genetic diversity from 118 studies of 101 species and > 1000 populations from the Australian marine economic zone. We analysed these data using two approaches: a linear mixed model for standardised data, and a mixed beta-regression for unstandardised data, within a Bayesian framework. Our beta-regression approach performed better than models using standardised data, based on posterior predictive tests. The best model included region (Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA) bioregions), latitude and latitude squared. Removing region as an explanatory variable greatly reduced model performance (delta DIC 23.4). Several bioregions were identified as possessing notably high genetic diversity. Genetic diversity increased towards the equator with a ‘hump’ in diversity across the range studied (−9.4 to −43.7°S). Our results suggest that factors correlated with both region and latitude play a role in shaping intra-specific genetic diversity, and that bioregion can be a useful management unit for intra-specific as well as species biodiversity. Our novel statistical model should prove useful for future analyses of within species genetic diversity at broad taxonomic and geographic scales.

Metadata record for data from AAS (ASAC) project 3010. Public Pycnogonids are primitive, bizarre arthropods. Found worldwide, Antarctic pycnogonids are the most diverse, abundant, and include some of the most spectacular forms. Near 250 species from the region are known, many in need for taxonomic revision, and more species new to science likely to be found. This project will document diversity of pycnogonids and target widely distributed species to obtain morphological, genetic and ecological information on distribution patterns and evolutionary history. This combined approach should provide a better insight of the roles of sea spiders in Antarctic biodiversity and the evolution and radiation of Antarctic marine benthic fauna. Project objectives: 1. To document the diversity of Australian Antarctic pycnogonids at species level and to target species with potential to investigate ecological interactions, zoogeographical patterns and genetic variability.

To examine connectivity patterns and genetic differentiation in populations of target species of pycnogonids across large spatial scales inferring diversification processes and possibly speciation rates.

To investigate the distribution patterns and possible mechanisms of dispersal of species with apparent wide distributions (e.g. circumpolar distribution, Antarctic -Pacific distribution and Antarctic-Arctic), based on molecular tools.

To explore how sea spiders fit evolutionary models testing the origin of deep sea fauna and proposing hypothesis for colonisation mechanisms and radiation processes, as many pycnogonid taxa from the deep sea are also represented on the continental shelf.

To resolve phylogenetic questions regarding the affinities among Antarctic species and lower latitude species to understand the evolutionary history of a highly diverse and cosmopolitan lineage (Callipallenidae-Nymphonidae).

Details from previous years are available for download from the provided URL. Taken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report: Objective 1 - During this second year of the project more than 500 lots of unsorted samples of pycnogonids are being sorted and identified, many to species level. -In July 2009, 130 lots from the Ross Sea and Subantarctic areas deposited at NIWA in NZ, were sorted, identified and many of them barcoded. Some material has been requested on loan to continue taxonomic studies probably leading to description of new species. -In November 2009, more than 330 lots of CEAMARC samples of sea spiders were received on loan from the Natural History Museum in Paris, where they were deposited in 2008. This material is extremely relevant not only for its diversity but also numbers of individuals per sample. CEAMARC samples (including additional 136 samples from AAD) have provided a unique opportunity to obtain appropriate numbers of individuals of target species such Nymphon australe, with more than 1000 individuals collected. This material is currently being used in analyses about genetic differentiation and diversity at different spatial scales. -Current work in progress on the species level identification of the CEAMARC material would lead to a proper characterisation of the pycnogonid fauna from an extremely important area of the Australian Antarctic territory. We have identified Nymphon australe, Colossendeis megalonyx, Nymphon spp., Austropallene spp. and Pallenopsis spp, as the most frequent and abundant Australian Antarctic pycnogonids and it is expected to correlate abundance and occurrence patterns to other biotic and abiotic parameters that could explain the numbers and diversity of these taxa in the area.

I co-authored a pioneering paper with H. Griffiths (senior author) from BAS and others, on the diversity and biogeography of Antarctic pycnogonids, which was submitted last month to journal Ecography.

At least two new species to science are to be described based on CEAMARC material currently studied.

Objective 2 -There is a publication in press (Arango et al.) in the journal Deep-Sea Research II presenting a genetic analysis of the most abundant Antarctic sea spider species Nymphon australe. The study includes 131 individuals of N. australe collected from Antarctic Peninsula, Weddell Sea and East Antarctica. -Additional material of N. australe from CEAMARC made available by MNHN in Paris is currently being analysed to expand the published study and focus on the possible explanations for such wide distribution of a species with apparent limited dispersal capabilities.

Just recently, I established research collaboration with Dr. F. Leese at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, who is currently interested in the population genetics and genetic connectivity of Antarctic sea spiders. This collaborative effort should prove to be very successful in terms of geographic cover of samples, molecular markers used and analyses implemented.

Objective 3 -The paper in press mentioned above addresses the question of circumpolarity of N. australe and finds it might be one of the few 'true' circumpolar species given that the dataset does not reflect cryptic speciation. Preliminary data for other species are showing contrasting results and might reflect 'unknown' species considered cryptic or perhaps just reflects necessity of fine detail taxonomy--. This work on Colossendeis megalonyx is partly in collaboration with Leese's team in Germany. -Material from New Zealand, Tasmania and NSW are currently used for analysis on phylogenetic affinities between Antarctic and non-Antarctic taxa, and also to compare patterns of genetic differentiation among different habitats and taxa. Achelia species distributed from Antarctica to tropical areas will be looked at in a future project depending on funding. Objective 4 -Objective 4 part of a proposal submitted to Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) to study deep phylogeny and divergence times of Pycnogonida to understand evolutionary links between Antarctic, deep-sea and Australian shallow waters species, in collaboration with J. Strugnell. During the first and second year of the project advances have been made in terms of literature review, discussion with specialists and most importantly acquisition of material for molecular work that will complement the dataset published in 2007 (Arango and Wheeler 2007). Objective 5

Since September 2009 I have been actively working on constructing datasets for phylogenetic analyses of Nymphon, the most diverse and abundant taxon of sea spiders in the world, and their closest relatives, the callipallenids, with centre of diversity in Australasia. I am working on including morphological and molecular characters for as many representative species as possible. So far, 30 species are included, and at least 50 morphological are being scored. More species are desired, so I am permanently seeking donation of material, collaborations, etc. the genes COI and 16S are sequenced for at least 50% of the samples included so far, I am currently investigating other molecular markers that might be suitable to resolve a phylogeny at this level.

Given the availability of material from many different species of Colossendeidae, and the relevance and impact of this group --being the family of the giant sea spiders, I am currently collecting material (i.e. tissue samples, DNA sequences, morphological descriptions) to work on the phylogeny of this cosmopolitan family with more than 40 species in the Southern Ocean. At least 15 species have been sequenced so far. The same techniques and methodology as for the Nymphon phylogeny are being applied.

According to a survey of working adults in Australia in 2020, 54.12 percent of respondents reported that they support the work their organization does for the inclusion of employees of diverse sexuality and/or gender. The annual Australian Workplace Equality Index survey is meant to gauge the overall impact of inclusion initiatives on organizational culture in the country.

Transects were established in tidal forests in a series of embayments, rivers and islands between the tip of Cape York and Hinchinbrook Island. The transects were distributed so as to attempt to reveal the entire spectrum of floristic character likely to be found between the full influence of the coastal sea, and upstream and landward limits of tidal range. The complete dataset comprised 1391 individual sites. Over 40 plant species are now known to occur in the mangrove communities of northeastern Australia, and 35 of these were encountered in this survey. Several taxa, which are not normally considered members of a mangrove flora are included because of their utility as indicators. This research was undertaken to develop a better understanding of the mangrove vegetation in Australia by exploring the utility of classificatory techniques in describing mangrove vegetation to provide an overview account of mangrove forest diversity in northeastern Australia. The data lists species occurrences along transects at various locations as well as, for a number of the sites, information on their topographic heights above specified datum levels.

Landmark and semilandmark coordinate data (2-dimensional) for tadpole body shape of 187 species of Australian frogs, and 17 species of worldwide frogs. To accompany: Sherratt, Anstis and Keogh 2018 Ecomorphological diversity of Australian tadpoles, Ecology & Evolution.