BioCondition Lite Method

Notes:

A red asterisk indicates a required field
For further advice about establishing your transect, refer to the 'Resources' tab for information about the Transect Establishment

Benchmark Version

Regional Ecosystem (RE) code

RE confidence

RE confidence reason or comments

If you are undertaking an audit that is not your land you must seek approval from the landholder – even if it is public land.

Was landholder permission obtained?

Property or park name

Assessment date

Recorded by

Site assessment number

Transect bearing (degrees)

Irregular shaped transect used?

Area of patch (Ha)

General description

Take landscape photos north, south, east and west from the 50m point, to provide a record of the tree and shrub layers and the general condition of the site. Save and name the photos as per the Site # and bearing. For example a phoot taken of site #45 in Toohey Forest bearing North would be named Toohey_45N. For further information about taking and naming photos, refer to the “Resources” tab for information about the Transect Establishment.

Name:

Attribution:

Licence:

Date:

Notes:

Activity name:

Project name:

No images found.

Record the location of the assessment site by selecting the transect drawing tool, then clicking on the map at the start point of the transect and double-clicking the end point of the transect. If the transect is not straight, use intermediate points to record the correct alignment.

Location

Centroid Latitude

Centroid Longitude

Latitude

Longitude

Location notes

Brief description of your location to assist with returning to the assessment unit the future. Also discuss landform, soils, roads, (include name and distance from), waterways, or buildings (any permanent features to assist in relocating transect); any differing land use nearby.

Record details for the ecologically dominant stratum over the 100 x 50m survey area.
Determine the ecologically dominant layer (EDL) within the community (usually this will be the canopy layer).
Data is collected in four key strata: canopy (usually the EDL); sub-canopy or emergent (can have both); shrub layer; ground. Refer to the Figure to confirm the EDL.

NOTE: Records dated prior to 1 July 2020 were assessed using a plot size of 50m x 20m. Records assessed from 1 July 2020 onwards used a plot size of 100m x 50m for the EDL. Both cases are extrapolated to No. of trees per hectare in the calculation.

Eucalypt large tree threshold DBH (cm):

No. of large eucalypt trees (> benchmark DBH):

Non-Eucalypt large tree threshold DBH (cm):

No. of large non-eucalypt trees (> benchmark DBH):

Total No. of large trees counted:

No. of large eucalypt trees / Ha:

No. of large non-eucalypt trees / Ha:

Total No. of large trees / Ha.:

Large tree score:

If no benchmark exists for the RE of interest, use the threshold of 30 cm DBH for ‘eucalypt’ trees (genera Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Angophora, Lophostemon and Syncarpia) and 20 cm DBH for ‘non-eucalypts’.
Tree diameter at breast height (dbh) measured 1.3m above natural ground level) threshold.

Emergent height (m):

Tree Canopy (EDL) Height (m):

Tree subcanopy height (m):

Emergent canopy height score:

EDL tree canopy height score:

Tree subcanopy height score:

Averaged canopy height score:

Proportion of canopy EDL species with evidence of recruitment (%):

Determine the proportion of dominant number of canopy species regenerating i.e having individuals <5cm dbh. Of these how many can be observed regenerating within all strata? Only one regenerating individual is required of each species (e.g. if there are four dominant species of trees then four species need to occur as regeneration to get 100%).

EDL species recruitment score:

Native tree species names

Number of listed tree species:

No. of unknown native tree species:

Total native tree species richness score:

Tree species richness is the count of different tree (single stemmed over 2m) species over the whole large plot area.

The number of native tree species is combined with the total number of other native plant life forms present to calculate a total native plant species richness score.

Record all understorey species within the 50 x 10m area boundary.

Native plant species richness is assessed by slowly walking along each side of the centre-line and tallying the number of species in each of three life-forms: shrubs, grasses and forbs/other.

Native shrub species richness

(List all species for plants which are: single-stemmed below 2m height, multi-stemmed from base, or below 20cm above ground level):

Native shrub species names

No. of listed native shrub species:

No. of unknown native shrub species:

Total native shrub species richness score:

The number of native shrub species is combined with the total number of other native plant life forms present to calculate a total native plant species richness score.

Native grass species richness

Native grass species names

No. of listed native grass species:

No. of unknown grass species:

Total grass species richness score:

The number of native grass species is combined with the total number of other native plant life forms present to calculate a total native plant species richness score.

Native forbs and other (non-grass groundcover) species richness:

Native forb species and other life form names

No. of listed native forbs and other species:

Number of unknown native forbs & other species:

Total richness score of native forbs & other species:

The number of native forbs and other species is combined with the total number of other native plant life forms present to calculate a total native plant species richness score.

Non-native plant cover:

Non-native species are species not native to the bioregion. This can be species native to another bioregion.

Non-native plant names

No. of listed non-native plants:

Number of unknown non-native plants:

Total richness of non-native plants:

Total cover of non-native plants (%):

Non-native plant species richness is recorded, but is not included in condition score calculations.

Non-native plant cover score:

Measure the total length of individual coarse woody debris as separate rows.

Includes all logs > 10cm diameter and > 0.5m length (and >80% in contact with the ground), within the boundary of the 50 x 20m plot area. For example, if a large fallen branch is only 100mm thick from halfway along its length, the measure is taken from that point to the point where the diameter drops below 100mm. There may be fallen timber where there are two connecting branches both of suitable diameter. The distance of suitable diameter for both should be recorded.

CWD Length (m):

Total length of coarse woody debris (m):

Coarse woody debris score:

* Attributes are essential to assess as used in scoring, however assessment of all attributes improves your ability to more accurately visualise proportions on each of the attributes)

For each 1mX1m plot calculate the percentage of cover of each of the attributes listed below.

They must add up to 100%. These attributes are measured by a vertical projection downwards of the living and attached plant material. A stylised guide is provided in Figure 5 to help estimate cover percent. This cover equates to the projected foliage cover in Walker and Hopkins (1990). The guide regarding foliage project cover can be found in the Resources tab.

Ground cover	Plot 1	Plot 2	Plot 3	Plot 4	Plot 5	Mean	Score

Total (%) - each column must be <= 100%

Length of transect (m)

Tree Canopy Cover

Estimate of the length of vertically projected cover (along the length of the transect) of the NATIVE SPECIES making up the EDL or tree canopy cover, if applicable for the RE. Canopy cover equates to crown cover as defined by Walker and Hopkins (1990).

(Only assess Emergent (E) or Subcanopy (S) layers if the RE benchmark document stipulates that layers are present.) *If trees are in the same layer and continuous along the transect you can group them.

Tree or tree group	Distance along transect - start (m)	Distance along transect - end (m)	Length of individual tree cover (m)

% cover of C:

% cover of S:

% cover of E:

Note: Only the projected cover for NATIVE SPECIES is included in the calculated score.

Canopy cover score:

Sub-canopy cover score:

Emergent cover score:

Average tree canopy cover score:

Figure 3: Example of measuring canopy cover estimate, taken from the BioCondition Assessment Manual, Version 2.1, which uses a 100m transect. Methodology is the same for the VCA, only based on a 50m transect.

The measure of canopy cover within the BioCondition methodology uses a vertical projection of the tree canopy (EDL) along the transect (line intercept method). This method is less subjective than some other canopy cover projection techniques.

Starting at the 0m (start) of the tape, take the measure of the first time the canopy or crown (leaves) of a tree intersects over the transect tape. Treat the crowns of each tree as opaque covers. Walk along the transect until the crown of tree 1 finishes and record the measurement (e.g. tree 1 began at 0.5m and finished at 2.7m, therefore its cover is 2.2m). Continue recording the cover of each tree intersecting the transect.

Where tree crowns overlap or intersect, continue as though it were one continuous cover, recording the measure only when no cover intersects the transect. If non-native trees are intersecting the transect, record them, but do not include within the total cover calculation. The total canopy cover is then converted to percentage (total metres/50m transect) x 100 = %.

Shrub Canopy Cover

Use the same approach as Canopy Cover.

Shrub type*	Distance along transect - start (m)	Distance along transect - end (m)	Length of individual shrub cover (m)

% cover of natives:

% cover of exotics:

Note: Only the projected cover for native species is included in the calculated score.

Native shrub cover score:

Site-based Condition Attributes

No. of eucalypt large trees:

Eucalypt large tree DBH (cm):

No. of non-eucalypt large trees:

Non-Eucalypt large tree DBH (cm):

Tree canopy EDL average height (m):

Tree canopy average height (m):

Tree subcanopy average height (m):

% of dominant canopy EDL species with evidence of recruitment:

Length of coarse woody debris (m):

Tree canopy cover:

Tree sub canopy cover:

Emergent canopy cover:

Shrub canopy cover:

Native perennial grass cover (%):

Organic litter cover (%):

Total No. of tree species:

Total No. of shrub species:

Total No. of grass species:

Total No. of forb & other species:

Non-native species cover (%):

Maximum score without Landscape:

Reliability:

Source:

Site-based Condition Attributes

Large trees
score:

Tree canopy height
score:

Recruitment of
canopy species:

Tree canopy cover (%)
score:

Shrub layer
cover (%):

Coarse woody debris
score:

Native plant species richness
score (4 life forms):

Non-native plant
cover score:

Native perennial grass
cover score:

Litter
cover score:

Site Biocondition Score:

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BioCondition Lite Method

Notes:

Location

Native shrub species richness

Native grass species richness

Native forbs and other (non-grass groundcover) species richness:

Non-native plant cover:

Tree Canopy Cover

Shrub Canopy Cover

Site-based Condition Attributes

Site-based Condition Attributes

Site Biocondition Score:

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