Species of National Environmental Significance 10km
Grids—User Guide
This product contains a 10km gridded extract of the Department of the
Environment’s Species of National Environmental Significance Database for
threatened and migratory species.
Each version released may contain changes due to new or revised listing status, delistings, taxonomic name changes
or updated spatial distributions. Both the maps and data of any previous versions are therefore replaced in their
entirety.
The geographic information system (GIS) data is available in both ascii grid and vector data format within an ESRI File
Geodatabase.
Background
The Species of National Environmental Significance Database contains maps which provide information on the
distribution of species related to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), such
as threatened species and migratory species.
Previously, departmental information on the distribution of EPBC Act listed species was contained within the Species
Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT) www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/sprat.pl. Species distribution
information in SPRAT can be obtained from linked recovery plans or other reports, text descriptions and a greatly
simplified location map. Lists of species at a particular location can also be generated through the Protected Matters
Search Tool on the Department of the Environment’s webpage.
Modelled species distributions have been generalised to help the Department respond to frequent requests from
natural resource managers for information in a spatial format suitable for regional-scale planning.
The maps provide public access to national species distributions while addressing concerns regarding the risk of
exposing precise locations. The data has been generalised to a 10-kilometre grid resolution so that locations of
species sensitive to illegal collection and disturbance are not disclosed. The distribution maps are therefore not
suitable for either local scale analysis or area-based calculations.
The product is made up of:
 data in an industry-standard grid suitable for loading into a GIS. The same data has also been converted to
vector format within an ESRI File Geodatabase.
 a portable network graphics (.png) format context map for each species.
 a spreadsheet (in comma separated values (.csv) format) which provides an index to each species map and
links to further information.
The development of the Species of National Environmental Significance (SNES) 10km gridded product is in line with the
government’s principle of open data access and is being promoted under the Australian Government’s environmental
approval bilateral agreements with states and territories.
Species Distribution Mapping
The data is derived from maps created by spatial ecologists within the Department of the Environment using
ecological data, research information, observation records and modelling software with national-scale environmental
data. They are predictive distributions of individual species and their habitat and are therefore indicative rather than
definitive. The distribution maps represent a starting point for further investigation rather than the outcome of a
comprehensive scientific assessment.
The data provide an indication of the biological importance and the spatial certainty of presence by using a number of
classes such as ‘known to occur’, ‘likely to occur’ and ‘may occur’.
For example, where a species is precisely mapped at a local scale, it would be mapped as ‘Species or species habitat
known to occur within area’; for a species which only has a general distribution map derived by modelling national
scale environmental layers, it would be mapped as ‘Species or species habitat may occur within area’. The precise
content of each class can vary from species to species, but some general interpretations are provided below.
Known to occur
Generally, these are areas of preferred habitat near known locations. Considerations include an understanding of the
ecology of the species, habitat preferences, the age and precision of the observations and whether we have knowledge
to reflect these preferences. In the absence of specific ecological information such as movement or dispersal ranges,
distance buffers from known locations are used.
Likely to occur
Generally, these are areas of preferred habitat, within the range of the species. A conservative threshold chosen from
a species modelling tool (e.g. Maxent) may be used where appropriate. The use of buffers is avoided where possible.
May occur
Generally, these are areas within a broad environmental envelope or geographic region that encompasses the
probable range of the species. With sufficient reliable location points, modelling tools such as Maxent may be used to
define the broad environmental envelope within which the species or its habitat may occur.
Level of Generalisation
These maps and data are indicative products only and are not intended for use at a local level. For more information
on individual species distributions, please contact the relevant state agency or the Atlas of Living Australia.
The grids were generated to a fixed 0.1 degree grid (approximately 10km) from detailed source polygons in line with
the available resolution for the sensitive species of the various agencies that contribute data to the department.
Based on sensitive species policies, the maps for the following species are withheld:
 Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) – NSW
 King’s lomatia (Lomatia tasmanica) – TAS
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The GIS grids and vectors are coded as –‘Species or species habitat likely to occur’ (pixel value 2) and ‘Species or
species habitat may occur’ (pixel value 1). The ‘known to occur’ category is not available in this product and has
been included in the ‘Likely to occur’ category.
The distributions of migratory species, such as shore birds, may not reflect the total distribution within Australia but
only show breeding sites, sites of significance or known locations.
About the data
Filenames of the grids and featureclass names are based on the Species Profile and Threats (SPRAT) Database
assigned unique taxonomic identification number at the time of listing under the EPBC Act. The index.csv spreadsheet
provides additional information, including listing status at the time the data was extracted, which can be linked to each
species dataset through this identification number. The data is stored in GDA94 geographic coordinates (latitude and
longitude).
NOTE: There may be duplication of map data where a species has been listed under different names and taxon
identifiers in more than one category e.g. listed as Endangered and Migratory. These duplicates (synonyms) have
been retained to facilitate searches under either listed name. They can be identified in the index.csv as species that
have individual listing identifiers but the same map identifier.
Downloading the data
The GIS data is zipped according to format and named by the version number i.e. zip files with “snes3” in the name
are version 3. Ascii format grids are zipped in a single file snes#_10km_ascii.zip (~2MB). The vectorised grids are
presented in a compressed and zipped ESRI File Geodatabase snes#_10km_gdb.zip (~8.5MB) with one feature
class per species and as a combined featureclass containing all mapped listed threatened and migratory species. The
index table is included with both versions and can be joined to the data through the listed identification number
(ListedTaxonId) to provide additional information and links to the SPRAT database
(http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/sprat.pl).
Updates
The source database is continuously updated as the lists of species on schedules of the EPBC Act are amended or
new information becomes available. The list of species, taxonomic names and status under the Act may therefore
have changed since the data was extracted. Prior to using any listing status against a species, please refer to the
threatened species & ecological communities webpage for current information.
It is intended that this product will be updated approximately every six months.
Members of the public are encouraged to provide feedback by email to sprat@environment.gov.au.
Acknowledgements
This database has been compiled from a range of data sources. The Department acknowledges the following
custodians who have contributed valuable data and advice:
 Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Queensland
 Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Victoria
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 Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, South Australia
 Department of Land Resource Management, Northern Territory
 Department of Parks and Wildlife, Western Australia
 Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Tasmania
 Office of Environment and Heritage, New South Wales
 The Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate, Australian Capital Territory
 Atlas of Living Australia
 Australian Museum
 Museum Victoria
 Queensland Museum
 South Australian Museum
 Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
 Western Australian Museum
 Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums
 Australian National Herbarium, Atherton and Canberra
 National Herbarium of NSW
 Northern Territory Herbarium
 Queensland Herbarium
 Royal Botanic Gardens and National Herbarium of Victoria
 State Herbarium of South Australia
 Tasmanian Herbarium
 Western Australian Herbarium
 Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme
 Australian National Wildlife Collection
 Birdlife Australia
 Ocean Biogeographic Information System
 Australian Government, Department of Defence
 Forestry Corporation of NSW
 University of New England
 Geoscience Australia
 CSIRO
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Species Resources
Australian Government - Species Profile and Threats Database
http://www.environment.gov.au/sprat
Australian Government - Protected Matters Search Tool
http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/about-us/legislation/environment-protection-and-biodiversityconservation-act-1999/protected
Australian Antarctic Data Centre
https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/biodiversity
Atlas of Living Australia – Australian Government Initiative
http://www.ala.org.au
Australian Capital Territory – Threatened Species and ACTMap
http://www.environment.act.gov.au/cpr/conservation_and_ecological_communities/threatenedspecieslist
http://www.actmapi.act.gov.au
New South Wales – BioNet
http://www.bionet.nsw.gov.au
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/atlaspublicapp/UI_Modules/ATLAS_/AtlasSearch.aspx
Northern Territory – Threatened Species
http://www.lrm.nt.gov.au/plants-and-animals/threatened-species
Queensland – Wildlife Online
https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/wildlife/wildlife-online
Queensland – e-Atlas
http://e-atlas.org.au
Biological Databases of South Australia
http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/knowledge_bank/information_data/biological_databases_of_south_aust
ralia
Tasmania - Natural Values Atlas
http://www.threatenedspecieslink.tas.gov.au/nva-information
https://www.naturalvaluesatlas.tas.gov.au
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Victorian Biodiversity Atlas
http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/environment-and-wildlife/biodiversity/victorian-biodiversity-atlas
Western Australia – NatureMap
http://naturemap.dec.wa.gov.au
Birdlife Australia
http://birdata.com.au
Eremaea eBird
http://ebird.org/content/australia
© Commonwealth of Australia, 2016.
Species of National Environmental Significance 10km Grids is licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia for use under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logo of the agency
responsible for publishing the report, content supplied by third parties, and any images depicting people. For licence conditions see:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This dataset should be attributed as “Species of National Environmental Significance 10km Grids Version x, Commonwealth of Australia yyyy”
where x is the version number and yyyy is the year of publication.
The Commonwealth of Australia has made all reasonable efforts to identify content supplied by third parties using the following format ‘©
Copyright, [name of third party] ’.
Table 1. Summary spreadsheet (Index.csv) field names explained
Fieldnames
Description
Filename
Name of the associated ascii grid or featureclass, in the form s<listedtaxonid>.asc
Group
Taxonomic Group (Birds, Fishes, Flora, Frogs, Reptiles, Mammals, Otheranimals).
ScientificName
Scientific name
ThreatenedStatus
EPBC Act listed threatened status (Extinct, Extinct in the wild, Critically
Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable or Conservation Dependent) on the
ExtractDate. Note the status may have changed since that date. The current
status can be confirmed using the species profile hyperlink in the Index.csv
table, or by searching the SPRAT database.
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MigratoryStatus
Indicates if the taxon is a listed migratory species under the EPBC Act
VernacularName
The species common name.
Family
Taxonomic Family
Order
Taxonomic Order
Class
Taxonomic Class
Phylum
Taxonomic Phylum
Kingdom
Taxonomic Kingdom
ListedTaxonID
Taxonomic identification number in Species Profile and Threats Database
(SPRAT).
MapTaxonID
Taxonomic identification number of associated GIS data within Department of
Environment.
OtherIDS
Taxonomic identification number(s) of SPRAT synonyms (associated or old
records).
cellSize
Resolution of the ascii grids – 0.1 degree (approximately 10km across)
nColumns
Number of columns of data in the ascii grid
nRows
Number of rows of data in the ascii grid
nLikely (2)
Number of grid cells where the species or species habitat is likely to occur
nMay (1)
Number of grid where the species or species habitat may occur
ExtractDate
The date the data was extracted.
Regions
Indicative area of occurrence (State or Territory, Commonwealth External
Territories, Ocean Area or None for Migratory species). See list of codes in
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Table 2 below.
Copyright
Link to Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 licence conditions under which the
data is released and may be used.
Attribution
Citation for data use.
SPRAT_profile
Link to the Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT) page for further
information.
Table 2. Region codes
Region Code
Region Name
ACT
Australian Capital Territory
NSW
New South Wales
NT
Northern Territory
QLD
Queensland
SA
South Australia
TAS
Tasmania
VIC
Victoria
WA
Western Australia
ACI
Ashmore and Cartier Islands
CKI
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
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CI
Christmas Island
CSI
Coral Sea Islands
JBT
Jervis Bay Territory
NFI
Norfolk Island
HMI
Heard and McDonald Islands
AAT
Australian Antarctic Territory
CMA
Commonwealth Marine Area
© Commonwealth of Australia, 2015.
Species of National Environmental Significance 10km Grids is licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia
for use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence with the exception of the Coat of
Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logo of the agency responsible for publishing the report,
content supplied by third parties, and any images depicting people.
For licence conditions see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This dataset should be attributed as “Species of National Environmental Significance 10km Grids Version x,
Commonwealth of Australia yyyy” where x is the version number and yyyy is the year of publication.
The Commonwealth of Australia has made all reasonable efforts to identify content supplied by third parties
using the following format ‘© Copyright, [name of third party] ’.
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