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Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd is a natural resource consultancy involved in environmental survey, monitoring, research and management with particular emphasis on the management of significant species and ecosystems. |
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Simon Cropper, the Director and Principal Consultant of Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd,
is an experienced ecologist and has worked as a professional since 1985.
He has been involved in survey work, the development and implementation of
monitoring programs, detailed ecological research and management of both
significant species and ecosystems.
Review curriculum vitae |
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Conservation Conservation of our planet, the habitats that it contains and the species that are dependent on these habitats has been the primary focus of Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd. The company has been involved in conducting primary scientific research through to the preparation of detailed management plans, for species, ecosystems and regions. If you need help in conserving the environment and would like some scientific input into your project, contact Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd to discuss how we can help you acheive your needs. |
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Nature Photography Need an image for the front cover of your report, for the banner of your website or to illustrate a point? Visit the Botanicus Australia Photo Library and see what is available or contract Simon Cropper to capture the images you need. What is that old adage? "a picture is worth a thousand words" Well even if you don't use a picture to replace text, a report with pictures looks more professional and is easier to read than a report consisting purely of text and tables. More on Nature Photography |
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Geographical Information Systems One of the first questions in biology is "what is it?"; the second "where is it?" GIS technology is all about using maps to answer the second question. Simon Cropper, the Principal Consultant for Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd, has been actively involved in use of Geographical Information Systems in Victoria since they first started to be used by consultants and government in the early 1990s. He has predominantly used ArcView over this time, although in recent years has been using a range of free and open source software (FOSS) alternatives like gvSIG, QGIS, OpenJump and SAGA. Simon has recently published a couple of papers on the suitability of using these FOSS Desktop GIS to view, edit, create, analyze and map geospatial data. He is also in the process of writing several tutorials on the subject and actively contributing to the website The fosGIS Workflow Guide. The tutorial 'Datums and Coordinate Systems used in South-eastern Australia' is a good example of his work. |
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Environmental Data Management Simon Cropper, the Principal Consultant for Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd, has developed a wide range of relational databases and programmed the primary Graphical User Interface used to add, search, manage, analysis and report on data stored in these systems. Detailed training manuals have also been written for most of the packages. Some of the environmental databases developed include... |
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Mobile technology to access ecological databases and geospatial data in the field Having the ability to query and add data to environmental and geospatial data in the field greatly improves the ability of workers to do their work. Simon Cropper has developed two mobile systems for collection of environmental data -- National Parks Flora Database (NPFLORA) and the Taxon Information Storage System.  National Parks Flora Database (NPFLORA) was a program to store distributional data on plants occurring in Victorian
National Parks. The central repository was a database containing information on all Victorian reserves managed under
the Victorian National Parks Act. When visiting a reserve a worker was able to 'check out' data on a reserve and view,
update and add to a dataset using a rugged computer called a Husky Hunter 16Taxon Information Storage System (TISS) is a package to store, import, convert, export and analyse taxonomic, ecological and
distributional data on flora and fauna. The central repository was a database containing all information stored on
the Victorian Fauna Database, Victorian Flora Database as well as data collected by Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd.
Project related work could be 'check out' at any stage and viewed, updated and add to a dataset using rugged tablet
called a J3400 Motion Computing Tablet.Although mobile Geographical Information Systems are available for
a range of scaled down computers (e.g. PDAs), it was considered easier for users to utilise packages they are familiar
with on their desktop computers while in the field. Hence a range of syncronisation programs were developed to 'check out'
data for access while in the field and 'check them back in' when workers returned. This technique was used for accessing
geospatial data (e.g. aerial photos, contours, cadastral data) with ArcView and gvSIG while in the field.The development of all systems mentioned above were conducted by Simon Cropper. Where necessary field staff was instructed in the use of each system and detailed 'user friendly' manuals published. Although capable of working insync using WIFI technology (only really useful in urban areas); all programs were developed to accommodate workers operating in remote localities - hence the need to 'check out' datasets so they are not updated by more than one person at a time. Further reading... |
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Online Research on Environmental Matters Tracking down useful information for your needs can be difficult and time consuming. The Internet contains a wealth of information but can vary significantly in quality from webpages that can contain references to high quality peer-reviewed research to unsubstantiated personal opinion expressed in a blog. When searching for information you want to find data you can trust and Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd attempts to sift through the vast array of sites to find the most reputable information. The shear volume of information can also be overwhelming. Without the correct search strategy and use of the correct keywords, it can be very hard to find what you need. Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd can be contracted to conduct small piece-meal on-line searches to help complete a project - from finding ecological information on a species to researching contamination of the food chain. Contact Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd to discuss your requirements. Online Research |
Page Last Updated: 10 April 2013