Author Archives: Ainsley

Fungal Identification Workshop, 2016

The State Herbarium of South Australia is happy to be hosting another Fungal Identification Workshop—being run by Pam Catcheside on 17 May 2016. This will be a one day workshop with a strictly limited number of places.

The workshop is designed for those who may be involved in the collection, identification and documentation of fungi or who might encounter fungi in the course of their work or research.

There are only a few places remaining, so if you’re interested in attending please apply via the online registration form soon, we will contact you by email as soon as places have been allocated.

Botany 2016—symposium details

On 14–15 April, 2016 a special symposium to celebrate the Past, Present and Future of Botanical Research associated with the State Herbarium of South Australia will be held as a part of the SA NRM Science Conference. Following the symposium, a special issue of the then, newly renamed journal Swainsona will be published containing short review papers of many of these presentations.

Botany 2016 — Past, present and future

Convenor: Michelle Waycott, Chief Botanist, State Herbarium of South Australia

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Botany 2016 — Past, Present and Future

AD96920168 Pimelea phylicoides A symposium celebrating more than 60 years of the State Herbarium of South Australia.

On Thursday and Friday the 14–15 April, 2016, the SA NRM Science Conference will host a special symposium to celebrate the Past, Present and Future of Botanical Research associated with the State Herbarium of South Australia. Some 26 presentations will be given, many of which will be available via live streaming if you can’t be there in person: here are the details on live streaming access.

The symposium covers diverse topics from the history of botanical collections, the botanical gardens, the Waite Arboretum and other collections in the state, palaeo-botany, molecular genetics, vegetation historical reconstruction, the seed bank, lichens, bryophytes, vascular plant diversity and some of the interesting plants that exist in South Australia, and more… Details of the symposium are available now.

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13th Australian Bryophyte Workshop

The 2016 Australian Bryophyte Workshop has been announced.

Generally held every two years, the workshops aim to present opportunities for those interested in learning about bryophytes to meet and exchange knowledge in different environments. This year will present the first opportunity for the intrepid to venture into an environment largely unfavourable for bryophytes, the semi-arid fringes of the centre of Australia. This will present people with a different challenge from other workshops — the need to search for the small in size and quantity. Only 109 moss and 28 hepatic taxa are represented in the State Herbarium collections from the Flinders Ranges, but expert eyes may find more!

If you’re interested in attending or just interested in keeping in touch with workshop developments check the meeting’s website. Registrations are open now.

Grimmia sp. and and lichen Acarospora schleicheri, Flinders Ranges, September 2015

Field to database—documenting the flora of Melanesian Islands

It’s All About the Plants
Tuesday, 8 March 2016, 10:30–12:00
Goodman Building Lecture Theatre,
adjacent to the State Herbarium of South Australia
Adelaide Botanic Garden, Hackney Road

by Shelley A James
iDigBio, Florida Museum of Natural History, USA

ShelleyJ_pressing Dr James’ research interests focus on the diversity and biogeography of the flora of the Pacific region. For more than six years, she has been undertaking field work in Papua New Guinea and, recently, the Solomon Islands, collecting new botanical specimens in remote locations, and digitising herbarium collections from the Pacific. Now working for iDigBio (Integrated Digitized Biocollections), the US initiative mobilising biological specimen data, she liaises between museum collections staff, researchers, educators and cyberinfrastructure to promote the use of natural history collections and the data they contain in answering big science questions.

Previously, Shelley was a botanist in the Herbarium Pacificum and manager of the Pacific Center of Molecular Biodiversity at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawai’i.