Herbariums contain centuries of botanical specimens gathered from around the globe. Changes in research and technology make the information contained in these specimens even more important in documenting the impacts of global change.
In this presentation, Shelley will describe how the Western Australian Herbarium fits within the global network of herbarium collections, why continued advocacy for high research quality botanical collecting and preservation of collections is needed, and how current efforts to efficiently digitize and provide online access of our herbarium collections is increasingly important and valuable for the documentation and discovery of the flora of Western Australia and to global biodiversity research.
Dr Shelley James is the Collections Manager of the Western Australian Herbarium, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. She has been a botanical research scientist for more than two decades.