Ellwood et al. (2026) call for national centres to coordinate biocollections in the U.S. In NZ, we may already be there. With the @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social, the question shifts not whether to coordinate, but whether to serve as the backbone of a national collections system. #BioCollections

Our latest Scigest podcast explores the science, history and global collaborations behind the Allan Herbarium — home to 800,000 plant specimens from Aotearoa and the Pacific. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.bit.ly/4d87aN9

🚨 #BioCollections update GBIF has just released a new Types & Specimen extension (May 2026), strengthening how type specimens and physical collections are linked, cited, and reused across global biodiversity data. A big step toward truly extended specimens. 🌍🦋 🔗 rs.gbif.org/extensions.h...

Mapped 170K Pinus records across NZ to help @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social model priority surveillance sites for incoming pathogens. 1st headache: a no. of pine trees living happily in the Pacific Ocean! Rubbish data in = rubbish models out. Data owners play a critical role in getting it right. 🧪

#Repost @smithsonian —— The seed of coco de mer was nicknamed “butt nut” because...well...we’ll let you guess why. Today, conservation biologist Gary Krupnick goes behind the scenes at the U.S. National Herbarium in our @SmithsonianNMNH to highlight this endangered species. ⤵️...⤵️

Herbarium Specimens Reveal Long‐Term Decline in Pollination Services Since the 1970s 🔗 buff.ly/n7TQWfZ

Rare mid-18th century herbarium (with pre-Linnean names) goes on display at Burton Constable Hall, East Yorks. www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/2605016...

Europe’s new EOSC paper shows how open, Linux‑based research infrastructure enables data sovereignty. As NZ launches the @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social, let’s commit now to open-source, sovereign research infrastructure built here, for here. 🌱🧬🧪 #OpenScience #DataSovereignty #Bioeconomy #NZScience

Looking backward to move forward: Enhancing metadata in scientific collections through interdisciplinary collaboration White & Harris 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PlantScience

Research using Australian herbarium specimens shows orchid pollination has fallen 60% since the 1970s. The “declines in pollination are most pronounced in orchids that rely on specialised pollinator interactions” #orchids #nativeplants #pollinator #conservation theconversation.com/preserved-or...

The wonderful Frank Hemmings, our Technical Laboratory Manager and Herbarium curator, featured in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Great to host Dr Alexander Schmidt‑Lebuhn ( #CSIRO) at the National Forestry Herbarium @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social. His🌿expertise helped confirm, or not, Senecio madagascariensis (fireweed/Madagascar ragwort) specimens, an emerging weed and biosecurity concern in NZ.🧪 #BioCollections #Biosecurity

New webpage now live for the National Forestry Herbarium at @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social. Explore our database of #BioCollections held in our care. Visit nzfri.scionresearch.com

Yeah! New @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social logo, which compliments our Brahms database for #BioCollections perfectly. 🎉🧪

🌿 Using specimen records from @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social's National Forestry Herbarium & others, Santiago-Rosario et al. mapped mistletoe-host interactions. Showy mistletoes show strong preferences for rosid hosts—hinting at ancient co-evolution. #Botany #Ecology #NZFRI #Mistletoe 🧪

We are pleased to see that the successful uptake of ORCID across Australia is proving to enhance research reporting and measuring. 🇦🇺 Read more here ➡️ https://shorturl.at/z4Ygl

Just updated @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social's National Forestry Herbarium data on GBIF! 🌿 Fresh records for researchers, conservationists & biodiversity enthusiasts. Explore the richness of our collections to unlock new insights and create impact. #BioCollections #GBIF #Herbarium #BiodiversityData

Welcome to the Bioeconomy Science Institute - formed by the merging of AgResearch, @manaakiwhenua.bsky.social, Plant & Food Research and Scion. We’re here to grow a resilient, sustainable bioeconomy — through innovation, collaboration and science that delivers real-world impact. 🌱

Cheers to Pensoft for incorporating a Bluesky share option. I've just embarked on the Wikidata/ORCID/Bionomia journey as curator and database manager of the #NationalForestryHerbarium @scionresearch.bsky.social. All this to make data #FAIR

What else can stipules do? The dark spots on the tiny stipules of Vicia sativa are extra-floral nectaries. They attract ants, which defend the plant against herbivores. 🐜 #stipule #Fabaceae #EFN #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Leveraging the BRAHMS database at the National Forestry Herbarium @scionresearch.bsky.social boosts efficiency in managing #BioCollections. Linking duplicates to a single event streamlines data and reduces redundancy. This integration leads to more reliable data and improved research outcomes. 🌿📊🧪

1. Infuriatingly, here in the UK, the government still seems to believe that the only way of introducing trees is to plant them (see, for example, the current Land Use Framework consultation). News just in: trees can self-seed, which could be why they've survived for 360m years. 🧵

Watch Firefly land on the Moon! After identifying surface hazards and selecting a safe landing site, #BlueGhost landed directly over the target in Mare Crisium. A historic moment on March 2 we'll never forget. We have Moon dust on our boots! #BGM1 youtu.be/NpHhEybJdxg

My science system reforms analysis is here: I wanted to first focus on the difference between the SSAG recommendations and the govt announcement. There’s a lot 😳 but the headline is the lack of govt investment. theconversation.com/if-the-gover...

*New paper* Denialism campaigns are growing in attempts to discredit science, scientists, and the scientific process generally. Biodiversity loss denial is a new phenomenon that needs our attention. -With @alexanderlees.bsky.social + Eliza Grames! #CommSky 🧪🌏 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Brahms v 8.7 available now.🥳 herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/brahms

On the migration of the scientific community to Bluesky: www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪

I wonder how Polylepis (Rosaceae) fairs at lower altitudes? It seems like a must for keen gardeners. I did a quick search of Scion's #BioCollections, we have a wood sample of Polylepis incana Kunth in the National Forestry Xylarium.

When it comes to a reference manager, let it be known I really want to use Zotero, but the one thing that prevents me from using it is that, as far as I call tell, it cannot auto format intext citations as "Author (Year)" as opposed to "(Author, Year)" or "(Year)" #Zotero #ReferenceManager

Unlocking a new dimension of #herbarium specimens: Master student Khalil Boughalmi U. Grenoble studying #NIRs spectra of herbarium specimens in #Annonaceae. Can we identify species from spectra of herbarium sheets?? More very soon!

Putting Brahms to good use. One #BioCollections database for plants, fungi and insects at New Zealand Forest Research Institute.

During my PhD at the #ASUBiocollections, I digitized over 3,000 #Anthribidae specimens 🥰. This was possible with the wonderful #Symbiota portal ecdysis.org, now updated with new tools! Let us know if you want to join to #digitize your collections 🥰.

My new favourite from #NationalForestryHerbarium. Echium plantagineum, commonly known as Paterson's curse, indigenous to Eurasia and northern Africa. Earliest collection in NZ from 1893. Farmers hate them, bee keepers love them. #BioCollections

Wahoo! #BioCollections data refresh from National Forestry Herbarium @ Scion Research supplied to Australasian Virtual Herbarium. See biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/...

New Zealand's Science System Advisory Group online news page last updated in April 2024. I worry about the future of #BioCollections in this country.

From #NationalForestryHerbarium @ScionResearch. 55% of specimens now imaged. Here's a sample. Melianthus major, an evergreen suckering shrub, endemic to South Africa and naturalised in New Zealand where it's on the Weedbuster list.

As herbaria are starved of funding to maintain collections, an inevitable knock-on effect is that the enhancement of the collection, through new specimen collections, grinds to a halt. #SaveHerbaria

What unexplored means: Mapping undersampled regions in natural history collections https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.09.579602v1

Te Papa’s natural history collections on GBIF blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2024/02/19/t...

"Biodiversity curators are the keystone species in a vast ecosystem of interconnected research" A constellation of disciplines including ecology, evolution, paleobiology, & beyond rely on biological collections housed in natural history museums #CollectionsAreEssential @SamNobleMuseum

I always wondered if there was a critical mass that would "guarantee" the survival of a #herbarium. Going on by what is happening to the Duke Herbarium, perhaps 1 million plus species is the magic number? What about other #BioCollections?

Simply stunning!

Every project proposal should have a voucher specimen management plan!

Always a good read!

Cool APIs and workflows being developed to link indigenous communities with their data. localcontexts.org #CAREdata

Ensemble automated approaches for producing high quality herbarium digital records https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.19.580800v1

There have been no formal announcements about what is likely to be a silent end to New Zealand's most significant attempt at reforming the research system in decades. As I say in here, large cuts to important research capacity appear to be well on their way. www.science.org/content/arti...

Is Boeing ever going to get the message that they need to scrap the turd that is the 73 platform and fast-track a clean-sheet design? They almost got this process started in the 1990s before McDonnell's Board took over Boeing, thanks, professional management who think that profit is the product.

“Small in size, mighty in impact." Every institution, no matter its scale, is a vital cog in the grand machinery of scientific progress. Stoked to see #BioCollections data from the National Forestry Herbarium at Scion contributing to this study.