The eAtlas is a website and mapping system for presenting environmental research data in an accessible form that promotes greater use of this information. It is also a data management system for preserving and encouraging reuse of this data. The eAtlas is the primary data and knowledge repository for 38 NERP Tropical Ecosystems Hub projects, 6 Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program projects and historically, the Marine and Tropical Science Research Facility. It is now funded as the data repository for the NESP TWQ hub. Project goals under the NERP TE (2010 - 2014): 1. Document (website and metadata), capture (repository) and visualise (mapping services) research outcomes of all NERP TE Hub projects in a readily accessible manner following the NERP TE Data Management Guidelines. These products will be made available in standard services (WMS, WFS, ISO19115, etc) following the National Plan for Environment Information (NPEI). 2. Develop visualisations for all NERP TE Hub spatial and non-spatial data and make them available in a manner suitable for fostering research collaboration and to develop key datasets for use by environmental managers and policy makers. 3. Expand the range of reference datasets in the eAtlas that complement available research data as well as maintain and upgrade existing content in the eAtlas (MTSRF data). 4. Develop a Torres Strait eAtlas that will make available Torres Strait content from NERP TE research, TSRA data and priority historical CSIRO data. This project will also develop a baselayer for the Torres Strait community based on Landsat imagery, QLD government aerial imagery, TSRA data and the development of a reef's dataset. 5. Develop the eAtlas systems (mapping system, data processing tools, metadata system and website) to best meet the needs of the end users.

The purpose of this data set was to compile distributional, general life-history characteristics and phylogenies for Australian tropical rain forest vertebrates to inform a wide range of comparative studies on the determinants of biodiversity patterns and to assess the impacts of global climate change. We provide three distinct data sets: (1) a table of species-specific distributional and life-history traits for 242 vertebrate species found in the rain forests of the Australian Wet Tropics; (2) species distribution maps (GIS raster files) for 202 of the species displaying both the realized and potential distributions; and (3) phylogenies for these species. These species represent 93 birds, 31 amphibians, 31 mammals (including one monotreme), and 47 reptiles. Where information exists, the distributional and life-history data compiled here present information on: indices of environmental specialization (ENFA), habitat specialization, average body mass and size, sexual dimorphism, reproductive characteristics such as age at first reproduction, clutch/litter size, number of reproductive bouts per year and breeding seasonality, longevity, time of day when most active, and dispersal ability; distributional characteristics such as range size (potential and realized for both total and core ranges) and observed ranges in temperature, precipitation, and elevation; and niche attributes such as environmental marginality and specialization. The distribution maps provided represent a combination of presence-only ecological niche modeling (using MaxEnt) to estimate the potential distribution of a species followed by biogeographic clipping by expert opinion based on extensive field data and a subregional classification relevant to the topography and biogeographic history of the region to produce best-possible estimates of the realized distribution. Our assemblage contains many species with a shared evolutionary history, and thus many analyses of these data will need to account for phylogeny. Although a comprehensive phylogeny with branch length information does not exist for this diverse group of species, we present a best-estimate composite phylogeny constructed primarily from recently published molecular phylogenies of included groups. This metadata record is an extract from the authorive metadata records maintained by the tropical data hub (http://tropicaldatahub.org/data/6e58cda4-a2c9-4193-bb22-708e25054e3c).