TERN Monitoring in the Pilbara region, Western Australia to inform the West Australian Vegetation Extent (WAVE) Pilot Project 2025 

Data for this project include the following parameters, presented at the individual plot-based level: Plot location and description; Plot vegetation community description; Plot cover (point intercept); Plot vascular plant species list; Photopoint images; UAV imagery. The data was collected during six surveys between April and July 2025 in the Pilbara Bioregion. Each survey site, a one-hectare plot (100 m x 100 m) was surveyed by TERN Ecosystem Surveillance using standardised field survey protocols, the methods align with AusPlots method and also Ecological Monitoring System Australia (EMSA) methods. DroneScape (TERN's UAV capability) conducted standardised data collection over each of the survey sites. 

We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. The data collected for this project was funded by TERN, an Australian Government National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) project, and the Western Australian Government Department of Water and Environmental Regulation through the West Australian Vegetation Extent project. 

The Pilbara bioregion is one of three pilot regions for the West Australian Vegetation Extent (WAVE) Pilot project. TERN Australia was contracted to conduct on-ground ecological field surveys, and UAV surveys in the Pilbara, to provide data for the pilot. 

At each survey site, a one-hectare plot (100 m x 100 m) was established using the EMSA Plot Selection and Layout Module. At each plot, standardised landscape information was recorded following the EMSA Plot Description Module (Enhanced protocol), including landform and land surface characterisitics, site disturbance observations, and a full vegetation community description equivalent to NVIS Level 5 was recorded. Vegetation and substrate cover was collected using the EMSA Cover Module (Standard protocol). Information collected consisted of substrate type, growth form, height and fractional cover type of intercepted vascular plants along four 100-metre transects. All vascular flora species present within the plot were collected using the EMSA Floristics Module (Enhanced protocol). All plant vouchers collected were identified by botanists at the Western Australia Herbarium. Information collected for each voucher includes habit, life stage, and phenological traits. A photo-panorama (a series of overlapping photographs that can be stitched together to form a single 360-degree photo-panorama) was taken at the centre of the plot. TERN DroneScape collected high-resolution RGB imagery, 10-band multispectral imagery, and LiDAR data at each plot following the DroneScape Protocol.