APM People - Secondment Services

Animal Plant Mineral Pty Ltd started as a “Biological Services” company in June 2008, providing specialist technical services to the Mining/Resources industry.

As the industry emerged from the Global Financial Crisis (circa 2009), there began an immediate and unprecedented demand for experienced zoologists and botanists to execute biological surveys to support the environmental impact assessment process for new and expanding projects.

APM was there, on the front foot, to provide specialist personnel to support larger consulting groups that were struggling to meet the project pressure being imposed on their own field biologists. Together, we were able to ‘get the job done and get it done safely’.

The evolution and development of our APM personnel is borne of extensive field experience over many years and is informed by the the following Commonwealth and Western Australian guidelines:

· Technical Guidance Flora and Vegetation Surveys for Environmental Impact Assessment (WA EPA 2016);

· Technical Guidance Terrestrial vertebrate fauna surveys for environmental impact assessment (WA EPA 2020a);

· Survey Guidelines for Australia’s Threatened Bats (Department of the Environment Water Heritage and the Art (DEWHA) 2010a);

· Survey Guidelines for Australia’s Threatened Birds (DEWHA 2010b);

· Survey Guidelines for Australia’s Threatened Mammals (Department of Sustainability Environment Water Population and Communities (DSEWPAC) 2011a);

· Survey Guidelines for Australia’s Threatened Reptiles (DSEWPAC 2011b); and

· Guidelines for biological survey and mapped data (Department of the Environment and Energy (DEE) 2018); and

· Instructions for the preparation of data packages for the Index of Biodiversity Surveys for Assessments (IBSA) (WA EPA 2020b).

For well over a decade now, APM has continued to assist in the design and execution of biological surveys throughout Australia, to help keep projects moving forward.

APM can provide immediate resource assistance at all levels of experience, across a wide range of disciplines on a secondee basis to meet your requirements. Our staff will seamlessly integrate into your team for the desired length of time to cover a specific environmental role or project, ensuring your project continue to progress on time and budget.

For further information on how we can assist please see below, or feel free to contact us: office@animalplantmineral.com.au

Fauna

We can provide zoologists with experience in the Pilbara, Kimberley, Mid-west, Goldfields and desert country to:

· Assist with the installation of full and comprehensive fauna trapping surveys, designed to survey the species assemblages present at a site, using pit-fall, cage, aluminium box and funnel traps, bat acoustic monitoring devices and motion-sensitive cameras;

· Assist with the assessment of habitat values present at a site;

· Identify habitat that may be suitable for Threatened and Priority Fauna (under the provisions of the BC Act and EPBC Act);

· Help to assess the likelihood of occurrence of Threatened and Priority Fauna (under the provisions of the BC Act and EPBC Act);

· Help to assess the likelihood of occurrence of species that are regarded as being “significant” at both local and regional scales; and

· Assess the habitat suitability and likelihood of occurrence of introduced species.

Flora

We can provide Botanists with experience in the Pilbara, Kimberley, Mid-west, Goldfields and desert country to:

· Assist with the undertaking of comprehensive flora and vegetation surveys to determine flora species richness and vegetation associations at a site, using quadrat based sampling systems suited to the region of investigation;

· Identify species present on a site including Declared Rare and Priority Flora (under the provisions of the BC Act and EPBC Act);

· Identify species present on a site that are regarded as being “significant” at both local and regional scales;

· Identify vegetation types present on site that are regarded as being “significant” at both local and regional scales;

· Locate and identify weed species, in particular any Declared Weeds; and

· Assist to identify and describe areas within the Project area that are designated as conservation areas based on flora and vegetation significance.

Flora Taxonomy and Vegetation Mapping

Our senior botanist/ecologist has the requisite skills to undertake flora taxonomy for a broad range of species collected in a number of regions, using our in-house herbarium and the resources at the WA Herbarium. Those species unable to be identified are vouchered to the WA Herbarium, following agreement/approval from our clients.

Our botanists utilise floristic composition vegetation classification methodology, applied to the species present within Detailed floristic survey sites, to determine whether the sites fall into clusters of similar communities. Structural vegetation classification, using vegetation structure and dominant species to describe differences between vegetation units, is also used to provide information on height of strata, foliar cover and dominant species.

Using these two methods our botanists can generate vegetation maps suitable for your projects.