Divisional Presentation Template

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Australian Plant Census A collaborative project
to develop an agreed national list of Australian
plant taxa.
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Why an Australian Plant Census?

• Identified need for an agreed enumeration of
  Australian vascular plants by the botanical
  community
• Lack of modern census. Existing Census of
  Australian Vascular Plants (Hnatiuk 1990) now
  significantly outdated
• Consistency of data across national projects,
  especially Australias Virtual Herbarium (AVH)
  project
• Similar need recognised by land managers and
  policy makers (i.e. Dept. of Environment and
  Heritage (DEH))
• Environmental legislation
• Land management
• Policy development and decision making

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Christmas Bush
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Changing taxonomic concepts
Different interpretations of species in
Subseries Dichromophloiosae of the genus Corymbia
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umbonata
dichromophloia

• Brooker 1995 EUCLID 2006

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• Hill and Johnson 1995

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State concepts
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What is the APC ?

• A collaborative project of the Australian
  botanical community through the Council of Heads
  of Australian Herbaria (CHAH)
• to arrive at an agreed national list of
  Australian plant taxa
• based on and documented in the Australian Plant
  Name Index database (APNI)
• representing a consensus view of Australian
  vascular flora for the purposes of communication
  at a national level.
• The content of the APC is based on the latest
  published taxonomic accounts, assessed against
  current regional and taxonomic expert opinion.

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Australian Plant CensusIntroduction

• Proposed enumeration should
• Have general acceptance by the Australian
  botanical community
• Be a consensus view of the Australian vascular
  flora at national level for national purposes
• Have extensive synonymy
• Cross reference to alternative taxonomic views
• A national endorsed taxonomic view of
  Australian vascular plants, accounting for
  alternative taxonomies

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What is the basis of the APC?

• Collaborative and shared product
• Based on published and/or on-line electronic
  resources and current state of knowledge
• Flexible and dynamic, reflecting new taxonomies
  as published
• Alternative taxonomies reflected in synonymies
  comments
• Initial focus was on taxa of conservation
  significance
• Commonwealth Environment Protection and
  Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act
• corresponding State / Territory Acts
• Later phases on families as treated for Flora of
  Australia

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Management

• DEH is the initial primary client for the
  Australian Plant Census (APC)
• CHAH is the collective custodian of taxonomic
  knowledge on which the Australian Plant Census is
  based, and the overall authority for content and
  project management
• ANH/CPBR is custodian of the Australian Plant
  Name Index (APNI) data set, and manages the
  project on behalf of CHAH

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APC Working Group

• CHAH working group composed of taxonomic
  representatives from each herbarium
• Collaborative
• Responsive
• Consult colleagues
• Project Officer works under direction of APNI
  team in collaboration with the CHAH Working Group

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CHAH Working Group

• Role of CHAH Working Group
• Act as representative for their respective
  State/Territory
• Provide data and information from respective
  censuses
• Respond to requests for information or
  consideration of taxonomic issues requested by
  the Project Officer
• Work with Project Officer to develop agreed
  taxonomy and nomenclature
• Provide feedback and recommendations to State and
  Territory authorities

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Procedural sequence
Compilation of data by Project Officer APNI Team
Contributors Experts, Census compilers, Working
Group members, Project Officer
Evaluation of data by Project Officer Working
Group
Agreed taxonomy
Differing taxonomy
Project Officer informs CHAH there is no
controversy
Project Officer prepares case for CHAH to
consider in consultation with WG
CHAH approves
DEH projects Other users
Australian Plant Census In APNI with
synonymy, alternative taxonomy and relevant
commentary
CHAH decides on a national taxonomy
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Agreed taxonomy

• Grevillea
• 583 taxa, 1291 names
• Treatment largely follows Makinson, Fl. Australia
  17A (2000)
• Accepted by Working Group without amendment,
  endorsed by CHAH
• Lythraceae
• 39 taxa, 106 names
• Treatment follows Hewson Beesley, Fl. Australia
  18 (1990) and Lepschi, Nuytsia,13 (2000)
• Accepted by Working Group without amendment,
  endorsed by CHAH

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Differing taxonomy

• Phalaenopsis amabilis subsp. rosenstromii or P.
  rosenstromii?
• Differing taxonomies adopted by different
  herbaria
• Species rank of Clements, Aust. Orchid Research
  (1989) vs Subspecific rank of Christenson,
  Phalaenopsis A monograph (2001)
• Cases for adopting either concept prepared by
  relevant specialists, submitted to Working Group
  for consideration
• Working Group votes in favour of species-level
  rank for this taxon
• Working Group recommendation considered and
  endorsed by CHAH

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Changing circumscription name remains same
conservation status may change

• Calectasia cyanea
• Name widely misapplied to number of species now
  recognised as distinct
• Recent research ? narrow circumscription
• Species occurs only in sw WA
• Populations now assigned to other species
• Recommendation re EPBC listing listing of C.
  cyanea remains appropriate, and conservation
  status should be reviewed
• EPBC listing of some taxa formerly included in C.
  cyanea should also be considered
• Working Group recommendation considered and
  endorsed by CHAH

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Differing taxonomy

• Ptychosperma bleeseri
• Previously treated as a rare species from NT
• Recent research shows this to be conspecific with
  widespread P. macarthurii
• Recommended to DEH that the listing of this
  species be reviewed and the taxon delisted
• In fact this palm is considered to be of
  cultivated origin..

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Outcome of review of EPBC taxon No change to listed name or taxon Taxonomic and/or nomenclatural changes to listed name Taxonomic and/or nomenclatural changes to listed name Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes to listed name Taxonomic circumscription changed, but name remains unchanged Taxonomic status changed
Interpretation No taxonomic or nomenclatural changes have been made to the listed taxon 1. Nomenclatural change to listed name, but taxon circumscription remains unchanged, i.e. where nomenclature has been changed, but the circumscription ( concept) of the listed taxon remains the same 2. Taxonomic and/or nomenclatural changes to listed name essentially similar, but refers to instances where taxonomic changes have affected nomenclature, but the concept of the taxon concerned is still the same Taxonomic changes not only affect the nomenclature of a listed taxon, but also the circumscription or concept of the entity involved Concept where taxon has been altered, but the name remains unchanged. This may be the result of a name being widely misapplied, often to a more widespread taxon, or an already rare taxon being subdivided further Taxa now considered to be of hybrid origin

Recommendn for EPBC taxa No amendment to EPBC listing required EPBC listed name should be reviewed EPBC listed name should be reviewed EPBC listing conservation status should be reviewed Conservation status should be reviewed EPBC listing should be reviewed

No. of taxa (total 1332) 1180 106 106 35 6 4

Examples Darwinia carnea Grevillea christineae Tetratheca aphylla Darwinia chapmania, Diuris basaltica Spyridium sp. Little Desert Danthonia popinensis Eucalyptus xanthope Pultenaea parrisiae subsp. elusa. Euc. benthamii Spyridium microphyllum Ptychosperma bleeseri Calectasia cyanea Prasophyllum correctum Pultenaea glabra. Eucalyptus bennettiae


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Matching phrase, manuscript and misapplied names

• Acacia sp. Barklys (J.L.Egan 124) NT Herbarium
   sensu  CHAH (2006)
• Acacia citriodora Tindale D.Keith MS
• Acacia sp. E
• Acacia sp. G
• Acacia sp. G Kimberley Flora (C.H.Gittins 1260)
  NSW Herbarium
• Acacia arida  auct. non  Benth.  Pedley, L.
  1964, Proc.Roy. Soc. Queensland. 75 34.
• Acacia hilliana  auct. non  Maiden  Pedley, L.
  1978, Austrobaileya. 1(2) 134-135.
• WA, NT, Qld

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Sample output
Ficus saxophila Blume  sensu  Du Puy, D.J.
Telford, I.R.H. (1993). ChI Ficus saxophila
var. sublanceolata (Miq.) Corner Ficus virens
Aiton Ficus scabrifolia A.Rich. Ficus coronata
Spin Colla Ficus scandens var. australis
F.M.Bailey Ficus pantoniana King var.
pantoniana Ficus scandens var. australis
F.M.Bailey Ficus pantoniana King Ficus scobina
Benth.  sensu  CHAH (2005). Previous records of
this species from WA (e.g. Flora of Kimberley)
are in error and represent Ficus aculeata var.
orbicularis. NT Ficus semicostata F.M.Bailey
Ficus racemosa L.
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Progress to date

• c.9400 taxa ( c.28,370 names) considered by
  Working Group and endorsed by CHAH
• Data for approximately 60 is entered/edited in
  APNI and available via APC web query
• Taxa treated to date include
• those listed under EPBC legislation
• taxa of conservation significance listed at the
  State/Territory level
• all families published in Flora of Australia,
  including Casuarinaceae, Combretaceae, Moraceae,
  Proteaceae, Thymelaeaceae and Urticaceae

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Output available at http//www.chah.gov.au/apc/
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Completing the project

Genera Species Infra-species Synonyms Total names
EPBC taxa Stage 1, State lists Apr 2005-Jul 06 N/A 1289 107 1401 2797
Total Stages 23 Jul 2005-Jun 06 1004 9371 2080 15915 28370
Est. total Stage 4 (Jul-Dec 2006) 540 4862 1341 5266 12009
Totals Apr 2005-Dec 06 1544 15522 3528 22582 43176
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Future directions and issues

• Continue present taxon-based approach,
  concentrating on unpublished Flora of Australia
  volumes, supplemented by DEH priorities
• Explore means of maintaining APC beyond initial
  two year DEH funding
• Foster current levels of enthusiasm and
  commitment from Working Group members and CHAH
• Expansion of APC capabilities (e.g. linking to
  State/Territory censuses, images, additional data
  sets)

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Future directions and issues

• Secure further funding to complete data entry to
  APNI, e.g. industry, philanthropic trusts
• Annotated mapping of state censuses and floras to
  APC and vice versa, so that APC is linked to the
  AVH
• Potential support from NCRIS

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Outcomes

• Scientifically defensible and appropriate
  information provided for legislative purposes
• Close collaboration between CHAH members
• National agreement to produce national census
• Agreed methodology, and its working
• APNI development
• Standardisation of informal (phrase) names
• Standarisation of taxon names across the country
• Increased taxonomic knowledge
• Highlighting resolution of taxonomic problems in
  flora
• Encourage publication of many undescribed species

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Australian Plant Census

• APC output available at
• http//www.chah.gov.au/apc/
• APNI available at
• http//www.anbg.gov.au/apni/