Victorian Flora and Fauna Databases

Flora and Fauna Data
The work of hundreds of biologists and field naturalists has resulted in two databases which hold 4.4 millions records for 1400 species of animal and 7000 species of plant from over 700 thousand survey or collection sites.

Optimised for Access
These records are stored so that they can be quickly and easily plotted on a variety of maps and the information within them viewed to show the date of their collection, the identity of the collector, the exact location of the site (and its geographic accuracy) and (when present) the other species that have been recorded with them.

Each survey or collection site is assigned a unique code by DSE database managers. Any site can be accessed (and altered in the editable versions) by entering the code directly. The uniqueness of the site codes allow the database managers to ensure that double entry of records is kept to a minimum.

Source of the Data
The single largest contributor to the VFD and FIS is DSE from data collected by its own biologists during the course of ecological surveys.

The second largest source of information is the legion of amateur botanists and zoologists that contribute to local and national surveys as large as the Australian Bird Atlas or a small as a weekend collecting trip by a field naturalist club.

The third largest source is the collection databases of the Museum and Herbarium. These are the principal source of records prior to 1950.

The FIS and VFD are the only databases that hold data from such a wide range of sources.