The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) is Australia’s national biodiversity database. Founded on the principle of data sharing – collect it once, share it, use it many times – the ALA provides free, online access to millions of occurrence records to form the most comprehensive and accessible data set on Australia’s biodiversity ever produced.
The ALA species pages display text descriptions, images, location information, taxonomic details and links to academic literature for every species in the database. Users can record their own sightings to add to the existing data - for example, the cheeky little guy on the left was found in Caversham Wildlife Park, Western Australia on 2015-11-09, and has been recorded as a human observation of a Major Mitchell's Cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri). Learn more about how to record a sighting or submit a data set to the ALA on the How to Use the ALA page.
By bringing together species information alongside location information, the ALA enables you to explore the biodiversity in a specific area or region. See the screenshot below depicting the diverse species that can be found within a 1km radius of the JCU Townsville Campus.
The ALA supports research, environmental monitoring, conservation planning, education, and citizen science, with tools available to help users capture, share, and analyse biodiversity information. The How to Use the ALA page also sets out how to download data in a number of different formats, including occurrence records (like our Major Mitchell above), pre-generated downloads, species and higher taxa data, pre-compiled species lists, and original data sets.
If you're interested in engagement, find out how you can contribute to a citizen science project in your area, or explore one of the many citizen science projects supported by the ALA.
If you're interested in engagement, find out how you can contribute to a citizen science project in your area, or explore one of the many citizen science projects supported by the ALA.
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