avh museum1

AUSTRALIA’S VIRTUAL HERBARIUM: 

AUSTRALIA’S VIRTUAL HERBARIUM Peter Neish Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

What is a Virtual Herbarium?: 

What is a Virtual Herbarium? The physical resources and biological information of a herbarium represented digitally On-line access to herbaria and to botanical information managed by herbaria Integrated access to botanical information from various sources in a herbarium and other on-line biological information

What is the AVH?: 

What is the AVH? A collaborative project of the Australian Herbarium community Digital Collaborative On-line Integrated Partnership and shared access Real-time access Shared access to common authority files Shared data-hosting, archiving and backup Co-ownership

Where is the AVH?: 

Where is the AVH? Spread across Australian herbaria Data distributed; resides with custodians Each herbarium has a portal to receive requests and to deliver data A common single query AVH interface in each herbarium polls all herbaria Major Australian Herbaria

AVH Partners: 

AVH Partners State Herbarium of South Australia Queensland Herbarium Australian National Herbarium Northern Territory Herbarium Tasmanian Herbarium Industry Partner: KE Software National Herbarium of Victoria National Herbarium of New South Wales Western Australian Herbarium Australian Biological Resources Study

Why is there an AVH?: 

Why is there an AVH? Pressure on Herbaria to work more efficiently Demand for access to larger amounts of data Demand to access data more quickly Demand to view data in different ways Pressure on herbaria to appear and to be more responsive to community needs

Potential users of the AVH: 

Potential users of the AVH The participating herbaria have access to all the data at the highest precision Public access filter restricts access to work in progress, sensitive locality data, etc. Research and education Public general interest Access to conservation agencies, land managers, environmental decision makers

There are problems: 

> 20,000 species of higher plants > 64,000 available names Extensive synonymy (4 names per plant) Many alternative taxonomic concepts 8 major government-funded herbaria Similar number of university herbaria > 6,500,000 specimens in Aust. herbaria 50-100 data elements per specimen Several Kb per specimen (excl. images) There are problems

Specimen data from major herbaria: 

Specimen data from major herbaria

Herbarium database statusat start of AVH project: 

Herbarium database status at start of AVH project

The AVH Agreement: 

$10M over 5 years to database all major Australian herbarium collections $10 million: - $ 4 million Commonwealth - $ 4 million State/Territory - $ 2 million private Initial focus on capture of herbarium specimen data Ultimate aim is a complete flora information system The AVH Agreement

Specimen data: 

Specimen data Collections data: Scientific name Collection date Collector name & number Location Soils Habitat (incl. topography) Vegetation community Associated species Plant features, e.g. colour Core information is from herbarium specimens

Slide13: 

http://www.chah.gov.au/avh/

Slide14: 

Acacia salicina

Related Products: 

On-line Flora information systems Generally regionally based Integrating: Plant names Descriptive Flora treatments Illustrations Distributions Related Products

Slide23: 

Botanical Literature

A Flora in XML: 

A Flora in XML Example in HTML <p><b>Platyzoma microphyllum</b> R.Br., <i>Prodr.</i> 160 (1810)</p> <p ><i>Gleichenia platyzoma</i> F.Muell., <i>Veg. Chatham.-Isl.</i> 63 (1864). T: Facing Island, Qld, <i>R.Brown Iter Austral. 102</i> ; lecto: BM.</p> <p>Illus.: S.B.Andrews…</p> <p>Rhizome short-creeping… Sporangia in zones in distal half of frond. Fig. 55</p> <p>Widespread across northern Australia… Grows in sandy or swampy soils.... Map 135.</p> <p>W.A.: 14.4 km NW of Mt…</p> Example in XML <taxon><name>Platyzoma microphyllum</name> <author>R.Br</author>, <publication><title>Prodr.</title> <page>160</page><date>1810</date> </publication> <synonym> <name>Gleichenia platyzoma</name> <author> F.Muell. </author><publication>Veg. Chatham.-Isl.</publication> <page>63<page> <date>1864</date> <type>T: Facing Island, Qld, …</type></synonym> <illustration>Illus.: S.B.Andrews…</illustration> <description>Rhizome short-creeping… Sporangia in zones in distal half of frond. </description> <figure> Fig. 55 </figure> <locality>Widespread across northern Australia… </locality><habitat>Grows in sandy or swampy soils...</habitat> <map>Map 135.</map> <specimens>W.A.: 14.4 km NW of Mt…</specimens></taxon>

Slide25: 

Flora Information Systems

Slide26: 

Botanical illustrations

Slide27: 

National Plant Photograph Index Search on-line Some digital images available 35,000 images of Australian plants and vegetation Portraits of Plant species www.anbg.gov.au/anbg/photo-collection/

Slide28: 

High resolution image of type specimen of Austrobaileya downloaded over the Internet from the Herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden Type Images on demand

Interactive Plant Identification: 

Interactive Plant Identification

Invasive Plant Notification: 

Invasive Plant Notification

Trends in Biodiverssity Information Management: 

Trends in Biodiverssity Information Management Regional Text-based Taxon-based Individual effort Single user Standalone Centralized Proprietary System Idiosyncratic Design Nonstandard data content Conventional Developmental Access charges  Global  Image-based  Spatially-based  Partnerships  Multiuser  Networked  Distributed  Open System  Standard Architecture  Standard data content  Innovative  Stable  Freely available

Acknowledgements: 

Acknowledgements State Herbarium of South Australia Queensland Herbarium Australian National Herbarium Northern Territory Herbarium Tasmanian Herbarium Industry Partner: KE Software National Herbarium of Victoria National Herbarium of New South Wales Western Australian Herbarium Australian Biological Resources Study Jim Croft for slides