Australasian Virtual Herbarium

The Australasian Virtual Herbarium is an online resource that allows access to plant specimen data held by various Australian and New Zealand herbaria. It is part of the Atlas of Living Australia, and was formed by the amalgamation of Australia's Virtual Herbarium and NZ Virtual Herbarium. As of 12 August 2014, more than five million specimens of the 8 million and upwards specimens available from participating institutions have been databased.

WWW avh.chah.org.au

Uses

This resource is used by academics, students, and anyone interested in research in botany in Australia or New Zealand, since each record tells all that is known about the specimen: where and when it was collected; by whom; its current identification together with the botanist who identified it; and information on habitat and associated species. ALA post processes the original herbarium data, giving further fields with respect to taxonomy and quality of the data. When interrogating individual specimen records, the environmental overlays show reverse jackknife testing to see whether the specimen is an outlier with respect to the climate and other environmental layers. See e.g., .
All records are downloadable in their entirety, by anyone. Examples of the use of these records may be found in

journal articles on: e.g., sea warming; marine biogeography; acacias; weeds; determining phytogeographical regions via species composition; developing biodiverse plantings suitable for changing climatic conditions; phylogenetics and conservation; and statistical issues arising when using herbaria data
some Wikipedia range maps for, e.g., Tribonanthes violacea, Blancoa canescens and Haemodorum coccineum.

A google scholar search, using the phrase Australia's Virtual Herbarium, shows that well over 200 articles have been published using data from this resource.

Participating herbaria

The State Herbarium of South Australia, Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources
Auckland War Memorial Museum
The Queensland Herbarium, Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation
The Australian National Herbarium, Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, CSIRO Plant Industry and the Australian National Botanic Gardens
The University of Canterbury Herbarium, University of Canterbury
The Allan Herbarium, Landcare Research NZ Ltd
The Australian Tropical Herbarium, a joint venture of CSIRO Plant Industry and the Director National Parks, the Queensland Government and James Cook University
The Northern Territory Herbarium, in Darwin and Alice Springs, Department of Environment and Natural Resources
The Tasmanian Herbarium, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Department of State Growth
The James Cook University Herbarium, James Cook University
The Lincoln University Herbarium, Lincoln University
The La Trobe University Herbarium
The National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
The University of Melbourne Herbarium
The Dame Ella Campbell Herbarium, Massey University
The N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium, The University of New England
The National Herbarium of New South Wales, Botanic Gardens Trust
The New Zealand Forestry Herbarium, SCION
The New Zealand Fungarium, Landcare Research NZ Ltd
The Western Australian Herbarium, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
The Herbarium, Unitec Institute of Technology
The Herbarium, Museum of New Zealand – Te Papa Tongarewa
The Janet Cosh Herbarium, The University of Wollongong

Herbaria and their codes may be found at Wikipedia's list of herbaria which is based on the New York Botanical Garden's continuously updated index.

History

Plans for Australia's Virtual Herbarium were announced in 2001. An article by Tim Entwisle in 2003 shows it still to be largely in the planning stage at that time, although the projected usages for preservation of biodiversity in western New South Wales were already visible.