Australia's vast savannas are changing, and AI is showing us how

Australia's vast savannas are changing, and AI is showing us how Australia has the largest intact savannas on Earth . Savannas are an ever-changing mosaic of ecosystems - from the sparse grasslands to dense woodlands, forests and wetlands. They stretch from Cape York Peninsula in Queensland to the Kimberley in Western Australia, making up almost 25 per cent of Australia's landmass . Anticipating how savannas will change in the years ahead is crucial to help inform our decisions about land management and policy that reflect the region's cultural, environmental and economic values. To do this, our team created an artificial intelligence (AI) tool we've called Themeda, a name inspired by Themeda triandra, an iconic Australian native species known as'kangaroo grass' (as well as an acronym for Thematic Mapping of Ecosystem Dynamics).