TERN Ecosystem Surveillance: Plant Voucher Specimen
This dataset comprises a comprehensive collection of plant voucher specimens representing vascular plants sampled from TERN Ecosystem Surveillance monitoring plots across Australia. These specimens are essential for accurate species identification and verification, providing a complete inventory of vascular plant species present at each plot. Collected following the standardised Ecosystem Surveillance methodology, the dataset includes over 57,000 accessioned vascular plant specimens housed at the TERN Australia Soil and Herbarium Collection, located at the University of Adelaide's Waite Campus.<br></br>
Each record includes detailed metadata such as voucher barcode, site and visit information, sampling details, and digitised images where available. Plant voucher specimens are accessible and available for loan upon request through the EcoPlots Samples portal via an Expression of Interest.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2010-10-30
- Date (Publication)
- 2025-06-17
- Date (Revision)
- 2025-12-11
- Edition
- 1.0
Publisher
Author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Sparrow, Ben (Director - TERN Ausplots and Eco-informatics)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Tokmakoff, Andrew (Technical Lead)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Leitch, Emrys (Senior Botanist and Field Lead)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Guerin, Greg ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - O'Neill, Sally (Scientific Officer)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Macdonald, Christina (Data Project Officer)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Lowe, Andy (Professor)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Flitton, Rick ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Saleeba, Tom (software developer/solution architect)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Coish, Caleb (Business Manager)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Starkey, Michael ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Irvine, Katie ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Francis, Nikki ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Finlayson, Tamara ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Pink, Lachlan ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Finn, Luke ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Martin-Fores, Irene ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
- Website
- https://www.tern.org.au/
- Purpose
- <p>TERN Ecosystem Surveillance is a national plot-based field monitoring program that tracks the direction and magnitude of change across Australia’s major biomes. Information on soils and vegetation is collected according to standardised, widely endorsed and consistent protocols across all plots, and includes the collection of soil and vegetation samples and specimens for subsequent analysis.</p> <p>TERN plant voucher specimens are collected from across the TERN Australia network of 960 monitoring sites nationally, with 410 plot revisits. The specimens are part of the TERN Australia Soil and Herbarium Collection at the University of Adelaide's Waite Campus. The collection is temporal and is associated with rich data including vegetation community, plant species and soil characteristics. This growing library of field samples is open to researchers, offering valuable resources for a range of studies.</p> <p>The collection of plant voucher specimens, and associated data, is undertaken in collaboration with Australian states and territories. Plant voucher specimens are determined by herbarium identification botanists. A subset of plant voucher specimens are accessioned at Australian state and territory herbaria, compliant with scientific permit requirements. The majority of the TERN plant voucher specimens are accessioned at the TERN Australia Soil and Herbarium Collection, Index Herbariorum Code: TERN.</p>
- Credit
- We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
- Status
- On going
Point of contact
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Lewis, Donna ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite Road
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Point of contact
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Steen, Carly ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite Road
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Point of contact
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite Road
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
- Topic category
-
- Biota
- Environment
Extent
- Description
- Australia's major biomes
N
S
E
W
))
Temporal extent
- Time period
- 2010-10-30
- Title
- AusPlots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual
- Website
-
AusPlots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual
Related documentation
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
- GCMD Science Keywords
- ANZSRC Fields of Research
- TERN Parameter Vocabulary
- QUDT Units of Measure
- GCMD Horizontal Resolution Ranges
- GCMD Temporal Resolution Ranges
- Australian Plant Name Index
- Keywords (Discipline)
-
- Plant Voucher Specimen
- Herbarium
- Ecosystem Surveillance
- Plant Tissue Sample
Resource constraints
- Use limitation
- The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license allows others to copy, distribute, display, and create derivative works provided that they credit the original source and any other nominated parties. Details are provided at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- File name
- 88x31.png
- File description
- CCBy Logo from creativecommons.org
- File type
- png
- Title
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
- CC-BY
- Edition
- 4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- TERN services are provided on an "as-is" and "as available" basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure. <br />Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN. <br /><br />Please advise any work or publications that use this data via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting
- Other constraints
- Please cite this dataset as {Author} ({PublicationYear}). {Title}. {Version, as appropriate}. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. {Identifier}.
- Other constraints
- <p> TERN provides data, samples and site-based research infrastructure freely to Australian and international scientific communities. In recognition of these research services, we ask that when you use them, you acknowledge NCRIS-enabled TERN. </p><p> Reporting on the use of digital assets and research infrastructure is a key performance indicator for TERN. The simple step of acknowledging TERN enables us to record that the infrastructure is being used, and helps TERN to continue to be funded to deliver long term ecological monitoring data and samples.</p>
- Other constraints
- <p><strong>Acknowledging TERN and NCRIS in publications</strong></p> <p>Data was sourced from Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) infrastructure, which is enabled by the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).</p> <p>If you have any questions about TERN or NCRIS acknowledgements or would like copies of logos or branding guidelines please contact us tern@uq.edu.au.</p> <p>Please send TERN copies of papers, books, book chapters, and conference papers etc. that have been created using any of our data as soon as possible after their acceptance. This allows us to easily track the use of our infrastructure and enables us to list your publication on our website increasing the exposure of your research.</p>
Resource constraints
- Classification
- Unclassified
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
Distributor
Distributor
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Queensland, 4068, Australia
Indooroopilly
Queensland
4068
Australia
- OnLine resource
- Plant Voucher Specimen Collection
- OnLine resource
- ro-crate-metadata.json
Data quality info
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Resource lineage
- Statement
- Plant voucher specimens representing all vascular plant species are collected at every plot. These specimens are used for species identification and verification purposes. Plant voucher specimens are stored in a plant press, and upon return from the field, are dried and sent to the appropriate State herbarium for species determination. On return to TERN, they are placed in a freezer for seven days, and then stored in the TERN Australia Soil and Herbarium Collection’s cool room at 17<sup>o</sup>C. Plant voucher specimens are stored one per sheet and bundled according to plot location. An image library project is underway to create a digital archive of these specimens.<br></br> A subset of the methods specific to vegetation vouchering is available on the TERN Linked Data Viewer <a href="http://linked.data.gov.au/def/ausplots-cv/1d39b897-d6d3-40e9-8113-8ebeab2cd38e">AusPlots Methods: Vegetation Vouchering – Vascular Plants</a>.<br></br> For detailed methods on vegetation vouchering, refer to <a href="https://swift.rc.nectar.org.au/v1/AUTH_05bca33fce34447ba7033b9305947f11/static-web-assets/ausplots-rangelands-manual/v1.2.9/manual.pdf">Chapter – 5: Vegetation Vouchering – Vascular Plants</a> in the AusPlots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual.
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Title
- AusPlots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual
- Website
-
https://ternaus.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TERNSup/pages/1193738270/AusPlots+Rangelands+Manual+v1.2.9
Method documentation
Reference System Information
- Reference system identifier
- EPSG/EPSG:4326
- Reference system type
- Geodetic Geographic 2D
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/4696a9f8-581e-4efc-95f9-080341004e69
- Title
- TERN GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Point of contact
- Title
- TERN Ecosystem Surveillance
Identifier
- Codespace
- https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/
- Description
- Parent Metadata Record
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
- Metadata linkage
-
https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/4696a9f8-581e-4efc-95f9-080341004e69
Point-of-truth metadata URL
- Date info (Creation)
- 2025-06-10T00:00:00.000000+00:00
- Date info (Revision)
- 2025-12-11T22:46:30.739238+00:00
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-1:2014/AMD 1:2018 Geographic information - Metadata - Fundamentals
- Edition
- 1
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19115-3:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19157-2:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
- Title
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-3:2016 and ISO 19157-2:2016
- Date (published)
- 2021
- Edition
- 1.0
Identifier
Overviews
Spatial extent
N
S
E
W
Provided by
Associated resources
Not available