Sarah Richmond (1), Chantal Huijbers (2), Hamish Holewa (3), Brendan Mackey (4), Willow Hallgren (5)
1 Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Parklands Drive, Southport, QLD, 4222, sarah.richmond@griffith.edu.au
2 Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Parklands Drive, Southport, QLD, 4222, c.huijbers@griffith.edu.au
3 Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Parklands Drive, Southport, QLD, 4222, hholewa@quadrant.edu.au
4 Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Parklands Drive, Southport, QLD, 4222, b.mackey@griffith.edu.au
5 Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Parklands Drive, Southport, QLD, 4222, w.hallgren@griffith.edu.au
Models play a critical role in synthesizing our understanding of the natural world and making forward projections into novel conditions. While they are central to ecological forecasting, models remain inaccessible to most ecologists, in large part due to the informatics challenges of managing the flows of information in and out of such models. Species distribution models and future climate change predictions require access to large datasets and high-‐performance computers in combination with knowledge about the appropriate analytical tools. The Biodiversity and Climate Change Virtual Laboratory (BCCVL) is a “one stop modelling shop” that simplifies the process of biodiversity-‐climate change modelling. It connects the research community to Australia’s national computation infrastructure by integrating a suite of tools in a coherent online environment. Users can access biodiversity and environmental data from global online datasets or upload their own datasets, perform data analysis with a suite of 19 different algorithms, and easily visualize, interpret and evaluate the results of the models. We will showcase how the BCCVL enables researchers to investigate, explore and accelerate biodiversity and climate change research.