The focus of this document is the new Vegetation Integrity Benchmarks.
Benchmarks describe the reference state to which sites are compared to score their site-scale biodiversity values.
The three primary attributes of biodiversity, composition, structure and function, can be described by benchmarks.
When scores for composition, structure and function are combined into a vegetation integrity score, they provide the rigour and transparency needed to make site-scaled comparisons and inform natural resource management decision making tools such as the Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM).
The BAM improves on past approaches in six core areas.
