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.

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. 

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. 

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. 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. 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. 

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^oC. 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.

A subset of the methods specific to vegetation vouchering is available on the TERN Linked Data Viewer AusPlots Methods: Vegetation Vouchering – Vascular Plants.

For detailed methods on vegetation vouchering, refer to Chapter – 5: Vegetation Vouchering – Vascular Plants in the AusPlots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual.