The Australasian Virtual Herbarium ( AVH ) 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 (ALA), 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.
4-515: 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
8-422: 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., MEL 0304065A ( Scaevola amblyanthera ) . All records are downloadable in their entirety, by anyone. Examples of the use of these records may be found in A google scholar search, using
12-521: The phrase Australia's Virtual Herbarium , shows that well over 200 articles (as of 3 May 2018) have been published using data from this resource. Herbaria and their codes may be found at Misplaced Pages's list of herbaria which is based on the New York Botanical Garden 's continuously updated index. Plans for Australia's Virtual Herbarium were announced in 2001. An article by Tim Entwisle in 2003 shows it still to be largely in
16-419: The planning stage at that time, although the projected usages for preservation of biodiversity in western New South Wales were already visible. Atlas of Living Australia The Atlas of Living Australia ( ALA ) is an online repository of information about Australian plants, animals, and fungi. Development started in 2006. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
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