Mr Anthony Whalen and Ms Anne Fuchs ‘Global alignment of biodiversity informatics systems’

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Thursday, 19 May 2022 - 12:30pm

Anthony and Anne, from ANBG, will talk about keeping up with published names and taxonomic concepts, including work that has been done for threatened species management, environmental assessment approvals and biosecurity threat monitoring.

Abstract

With an estimated 600,000 or more organisms native to Australia, and many millions found globally, the task of keeping up with published names and taxonomic concepts is a significant one. This challenge in part is being managed within Australia, through the developing Australian National Species List (auNSL).

Anthony and Anne are playing different roles in the advancement of the auNSL. In this presentation they will talk through what work has been done over recent years and the value of this ongoing work for future to policy and program needs, such as threatened species management, environmental assessment approvals and biosecurity threat monitoring. The talk will also cover how this Australian work is contributing to the Catalogue of Life and other international initiatives.

Biographies

Anthony Whalen is the Director of Biodiversity Conservation and Knowledge (BCK), leading the ANBG's science policies, programs and strategic research priorities. Anthony manages the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), the Bush Blitz species discovery program, the National Seed Bank, the Biodiversity Informatics team and co-manages the Australian National Herbarium (with CSIRO). Together his team work to provide much of the critical knowledge, collections and research programs needed to guide the Australian Government's long-term management of plant and animal species and ecological communities. Anthony is a member of the Biodiversity Information Partnership, which brings together the Atlas of Living Australia, ABRS and peak bodies for herbarium and museum collections. He also represents Australia on the World Flora Online Council.  

Anne Fuchs is the Manager of Biodiversity Informatics within BCK. Anne has been guiding the long-term transition of the ANBG and Australian National Herbarium's systems, applications and data into a new cloud-based platform that will help meet the needs of Parks Australia's biodiversity programs over the next decade or more. Anne is the current Chair of the Herbarium Information Systems Committee (HISCOM), is an Australian representative on the Catalogue of Life and World Flora Online and is an active participant in Biodiversity Standards (TDWG).

Lunchtime talks are held at 12.30 pm every Thursday from February to November in the Gardens’ Theatrette. Talks last for 1 hour. Admission is by gold coins donation. The Friends use the ‘gold’ coins donations received at each activity to support Gardens’ programs and development and thank all those who have donated. Please note: unless otherwise indicated, talks are in the ANBG Theatrette.

The talks are in line with COVID-19 guidelines which can change rapidly.

Bookings are essential.  Booking Link: https://www.trybooking.com/BYPPI. Bookings can be made from the Friday before the talk until Wednesday night before the talk.

The Friends of the ANBG thank the speakers who volunteer their time and talents to further the knowledge of all attending events in the Gardens. Some summaries or PowerPoint presentations of Thursday talks are available to Friends at the ANBG library. A donation to the Friends for the use of this material will be gratefully accepted. Please direct queries about the talks to the Thursday Talks Team: email talks@friendsanbg.org.au