Whether it’s bagging a barramundi, eye-balling an emu, or sitting under a snow gum, Australians love getting out amongst nature, and our scientists are no different. For nearly 90 years we’ve been counting, tracking, measuring, recording, and analysing Australia’s amazing plants and animals. And in that time, you’ll be glad to hear we’ve learnt a thing or two. In fact, we’ve learnt so much we’ve written a whole book about them!

Launched today, Biodiversity: Science and Solutions for Australia aims to provide the latest scientific knowledge on Australia’s biodiversity in an engaging and clear format. The book describes the ancient origins and unique features of Australia’s plants, animals and ecosystems, and looks at how they are currently tracking. It highlights indigenous perspectives on biodiversity and describes how Australia’s biodiversity interacts with agriculture, the resources sector, cities and with our changing global environment. Perhaps most importantly, it also identifies practical solutions for managing Australia’s globally unique natural assets.

We’re so keen to share what we’ve learnt that we’ve made the book available for free. You can download your free copy from www.csiro.au/biodiversitybook. The book is available as PDFs or as an interactive eBook, which contains interviews with the authors, links to additional videos, animations and articles, and detailed information about every species mentioned in the book via the Atlas of Living Australia.

Prefer to watch and listen rather than read? Then the good news for you is that today we’re also launching a series of video interviews that will give you an insight into different aspects of biodiversity – from farming, to forestry to fishing. If you like what you see and hear you can then download the relevant chapter to learn more.

First up is an interview with Dr Steve Morton who explains what biodiversity is and why it is important to all of us, often for different reasons.