Australian Biological Resources Study
Issue 26
Australian Biological Resources Study, April 2002
ISSN 0814 B8880
In November 2001 Dr David Kemp was newly appointed as Minister of Environment and Heritage, following a Cabinet reshuffle which saw our previous Minister, Robert Hill move to Defence. Dr Kemp met with Environment Australia staff on 28 November 2002 to outline his vision for the Portfolio. Of particular interest Dr Kemp emphasised the need for fact based decision making, and the need for training to provide the necessary skill base for Environment Australia to fulfil its mission. This is heartening news for ABRS as of course we have been pressing for many years to address the lack of taxonomists, who are needed to provide the underlying information for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
I am also very pleased to report that the Minister has appointed three new members of the ABRS Advisory Committee, namely Associate Professor Andrew Austin, Professor Anne Ashford and Dr Jane Gilmour. Associate Professor Austin is from University of Adelaide. He has an international reputation as an insect systematist specialising in parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera). Aside from being a renowned researcher, he is currently President of the Australian Entomological Society, past President of the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists, and is the inaugural Director of Adelaide University's Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity.
Professor Ashford is from the School of Biological Science, University of New South Wales, and leads a scientific team that studies the beneficial role of fungi in aiding mineral uptake by Australian plants. Professor Ashford is an end-user of taxonomy and consequently is well-placed to determine appropriate methods of dissemination of taxonomic information to non-specialists. She has received numerous awards and also has published extensively.
Dr Gilmour is the Executive Director of Earthwatch Institute - Australia, and has strong skills in media and public relations. Earthwatch is an international non-profit organisation which supports scientific field research and public education. We are extremely happy to include their mix of skills onto the Advisory Committee. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank our retiring Advisory Committee members, Dr Judy West and Professor David Patterson for all their excellent work the past years.
Long time ABRS-watchers will remember a time nearly 10 years ago when David Kay was Director of ABRS, among other duties while Branch Head based at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. We are pleased to welcome back David Kay as the Assistant Secretary, Parks Australia South, with direct responsibility for ABRS in Environment Australia. David Kay has a long history of involvement with ABRS since 1987 when he was first attended the ABRS Advisory Committee meeting. In more recent times David has been the Director of ABRS, amongst other duties, while Branch Head based at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. In more recent times David has been with the Marine area of Environment Australia.
Over the past 6 months work has continued in ABRS on the development of all our products, and I am pleased to see the publication of another electronic key Mites in Soil (actually a set of 5 keys one of which is to the micro-arthropods) and the book Nature's Investigator: The Diary of Robert Brown in Australia 1801-1805. I would like to express my thanks to all those contributors who have made these products possible. The development of our databases for delivery of taxonomic information via the Web has also increased this year, with numerous contracts given to Australian and international authors to complete a variety of treatments. One of our best known products is the Flora of Australia, and work continues on many volumes, with the first grasses volume and next lichen volume nearing completion.
To all our collaborators in all our many and varied publications I give thanks, and urge you, no matter whether it is a labour of love or a hard and fast contract, to put in as much effort as possible to complete overdue work. We have a huge volume of work out with the taxonomic community, and many more products could be completed and made available if we could get in-house the remaining elements of many existing projects.
An important task I have taken on over the past six months has been to start to organise a Working Group to guide the development of the Australian node(s) for GBIF (the Global Biodiversity Information Facility). GBIF is organised through national governments; the Australian Government is responsible for our international engagement in the process, and pays Australia's yearly contribution to GBIF (US$100,000). On behalf of the Australian Government I have been asked to chair this Working Group to design a process for the establishment of the Australian node(s) to GBIF. In October 2001 I circulated widely a call for nominations for the working group, and I am pleased to say that the Working Group has now formed.
The role of the working group will be to develop a process by which we can capture as much digitally available biodiversity information as possible through a series of portals. The Australian Virtual Herbarium is an excellent example of one such portal to which the Australian node would connect, thereby connecting to all major State/Territory and Commonwealth herbaria. The challenge before us is to work out how to link up to the many and varied data sources in Australia that are not so well organised. I hope the working group will be able to convene before the next Governing Board meeting of GBIF to be held in Canberra in March 2002.
In November 2001, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney and the Australian Museum hosted an innovative cross-taxon meeting called the Biodiversity Knowledge Management Forum. Several ABRS staff attended different parts of the Forum, which was an extremely useful event.
In December 2001 the ABRS Advisory Committee agreed to the letting of a large contract to establish a 10 year research strategy for protists, fungi and algae. This project will involve broad stakeholder consultation to determine and document the areas of high priority both from a scientific perspective and also from the broader community and industry perspective. (See below for a full description of the project and how you can contribute to it).
In February 2002 I attended a preparatory meeting in Japan to organise details for holding a large Asian regional meeting for the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI). The preparatory meeting successfully decided on a host, venue and time for this meeting, but there is much more work to do to gain all the necessary funding and finalise the participant list. The meeting will be held in Kuala Lumpur on 10-13 September 2002. The main aim of the regional meeting is to determine regional taxonomic priorities that to be addressed under the GTI Programme of Work. I also attended an advisory committee meeting for the Species 2000 Asia Oceania group, in particular to provide advice on the current Japanese-funded projects for Species 2000.
In conclusion I would urge you all to participate in any discussions or meetings that may occur in your region regarding the ABRS integrated research strategies project, the Australian node of GBIF, or GTI. All of these processes are endeavouring to guide the development of better ways to support our taxonomic effort, and with your input they will be stronger.