Research at the Tasmanian Herbarium

Research is a critical component of the Herbarium’s work. It promotes Tasmania and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery nationally and internationally in the scientific arena, and aims to consolidate TMAG as a centre of research excellence. Research results are presented in peer-reviewed scientific journals and general articles, and through presentations at national and international symposia.

Major research projects include the documentation of Tasmania’s plant diversity, and species discovery and description – work that is fundamental to all other pure and applied research on Tasmanian plants, as well as to the management of the state’s flora.

The Herbarium also supports research in other national and international institutions through an active program of specimen loans and access to data, and collaborates on research projects with kindred institutions in Australia and overseas.

Research Expertise

Staff:

  • Dr Gintaras Kantvilas: Taxonomy and ecology of lichens, with special reference to Tasmania and the Southern Hemisphere
  • Matthew Baker: Taxonomy and distribution of weeds and exotics in Tasmania
  • Dr Miguel de Salas: Taxonomy of Tasmanian native vascular plants
  • Dr Jean Jarman: Floristics and ecology of Tasmanian bryophytes
  • Lyn Cave: Floristics and ecology of Tasmanian bryophytes

Honorary Associates:

  • Dr Rod Seppelt: Mosses
  • Dr Gerry Kraft and Dr Fiona Scott: Marine macroalgae (seaweeds)
  • John Davies: Vascular plant ecology and floristics

Projects and Programs

TMAG Expeditions of Discovery

Now in its sixth year, this program, in collaboration with the Zoology team, takes specialists to previously underspampled parts of Tasmania in order to discover, collect and document Tasmania’s biota. To date, the expeditions have visited the Little Swanport area (East Coast), Musselroe Bay (North-East), Spring Bay (East Coast), Stony Head (north), the Ben Lomond Plateau, and Woolnorth in the far north-west.

Flora of Tasmania Online

Flora of Tasmania Online is a web-based document that provides taxonomic information on Tasmania’s vascular plants. It contains keys, descriptions and information on plant relationships, distribution and ecology. The total number of families now completed is 71, and others will be added as the treatments become available.

A Census of the Vascular Plants of Tasmania

A Census of Vascular Plants of Tasmania, including Macquarie Island is updated annually. The Census can be viewed or downloaded from the Flora of Tasmania Online website.

Catalogue of Tasmanian Mosses

An Illustrated Catalogue of Tasmanian Mosses comprises the drawings of botanist/artist Rod Seppelt, and is intended for use with taxonomic descriptions of Tasmanian mosses already published in other works. Each species is illustrated with detailed line drawings of shoots, organs and cells, mostly as viewed with a microscope or hand lens. Parts 1-3 have been published and Part 4 is underway.

Tasmanian Herbarium recent refereed publicationsPDF 156.7 KB