About The Collection
The Images How To Use How To Contribute Reporting Errors or Making Suggestions
Areas of Collection Provenance

 

The Images
The pollen and spores were processed using HCl, KOH, sieving, acetolysis and mounted in glycerol. These methods are described in Faegri, K., Kaland, P.E., Krzywinski, K. (1992), Textbook of Pollen Analysis by Knut Faegri & Johs. Iversen. 4th ed. John Wiley & Sons.
The images are located in folders named after the person who collected the pollen/spores. Each folder contains two sets of images. The first set of images contains thumbnails of each taxon. The second set of images contains the full-sized images of each taxon. The full-sized images contain scale bars and most contain the name of the taxon. Where possible, several views of the grain have been presented.

How To Use
The Collection offers two search options. These are a Graphics Search or a Text Search .
The Graphics Search
The Graphics Search option is used when trying to solve an unknown grain. Click on the Graphics Search option and a page of sketches will appear. Click on the sketch that most resembles your unknown pollen grain. This will open up a page of tables containing small images of pollen/spores - or thumbnails - which have been assigned to the sketch. The thumbnails have been grouped into tables according to collection site, i.e. Arid Zone, Hunter Valley or Tasmania. select the region which applies to you and then browse the table for thumbnails that match your unknown. By clicking on the thumbnail image, the full-sized image appears. The user can go back and forwards by clicking the "Back" button on the toolbar and selecting alternate thumbnails or sketches to compare with the unknown grain.
The Text Search
The Text Search option is used when the name of the taxon is known, or simply to browse the collection by Family or Genus and Species names. Click on the Text Search option and a page of Family names will appear. To select a Family name, click on the first letter of the Family name at the top of the page. This will take you to a list of Family names starting with that letter. Scroll through this list and click on the Family that you would like to view. This will take you to a page that lists all of the taxa in the selected Family. Click on the taxon that you would like to view. This opens a full-sized image of the taxon. Use the "Back" button on the toolbar to view other taxa or Families. At any time, the user is at most 3 clicks away from the home page.

How To Contribute
If you would like to contribute to the collection, please contact Dr Stuart Pearson. Each contributor remains the owner of their own collection, the images of which are placed in a folder bearing the collector's name. Information such as the collector's name and the person who produced the image can be included on the full-sized image.
Full-Sized Images
If you have several images of each taxon (i.e. a polar, equatorial and oblique views) stitch them together into one image. The stitch function is provided by most photo editing computer packages such as PhotoImpact and Corel PhotoPaint. Add scale bars, Family and taxon name and any other information that you desire (e.g. Collector's name, Image producer's name). The completed image should be saved in jpeg format and named accordingly - "genus_species.jpg" (eg nothofagus_cunninghamii.jpg). Please use lower case and underscores for naming conventions.
Thumbnails
Thumbnails should be scaled to a height of 125 pixels, with file sizes no more than 6k. The thumbnails need to be assigned to a sketch on the sketch page so that they can be used in the Graphics Search. The thumbnails should be saved in jpeg format and named accordingly - "sketch number genus_species.jpg" (eg 13nothofagus_cunninghamii.jpg, where 13 is the number of the line drawing/sketch on the graphics search page). Again, please use lower case and underscores for naming conventions.
The Completed Package
Place both the full-sized images and the thumbnails into a folder bearing the collector's name. Please also include a spreadsheet containing the following information: Family, Genus, Species, Collection Site, Collector, Image Producer, Processing Method and Mounting Medium.

Reporting Errors or Making Suggestions
Errors
Should you encounter any errors (such as error of identifcation, missing links, spelling mistakes, etc.) whilst using the collection please let us know.
Suggestions
We welcome any suggestions that may allow this collection to work better. This is a "work in progress" site and the collection, both on CD and on the world-wide-web, will continue to be expanded and improved.
The Collection Managers
Arid Zone Dr Stuart Pearson
Hunter Valley Peter Shimeld
Tasmania Feli Hopf
 La Trobe  Dr Sabine Wilkens

Areas of Collection
Arid Zone
The Arid Zone collection consists mostly of Dr Stuart Pearson's and Lucy Gayler's reference collections (64 taxa and 106 taxa respectively). The images have been digitised directly from the microscope and have been prepared by Dr Stuart Pearson and Lucy Gayler. Matt Cupper (Melbourne University) is also contributing to this collection. Several taxa have been incorporated so far, which will be expanded in future.
Hunter Valley
The Hunter Valley collection consists of Peter Shimeld's reference collection (274 taxa), most of which were sourced from plants in the Port Stephens and Lower Hunter Valley. The images have been scanned from 35mm photographs.
Tasmania
The Tasmanian collection consists mostly of M.K. Macphail's reference collection. Prof E.A. Colhoun contributed a few taxa to Dr Macphail's collection. Feli hopf has contributed her collection of taxa collected from the Lake St. Clair - Clarence Lagoon area. At present, 225 Tasmanian taxa are included on this CD and the world-wide-web. Another 350 taxa are waiting to be digitised and will be gradually included in future updates. The images have been digitised directly from the microscope and have been prepared by Feli hopf, Rohan Skellams and David O'Brien.
La Trobe University
The La Trobe University collection consists of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of pollen collected by Sabine Wilkens from the Bendigo Bushland at La Trobe University. The specimens were mounted on double sided sticky tape and scanned using a Cambridge S150 SEM. The images were produced by Katherine Legge using Adobe Photoshop.
Southern Chile
The Southern Chile collection consists of reference material collected between 1990-1996 as voucher specimens by Dr Simon Haberle, Prof Keith Bennett, and Dr Susie Lumley from Region XI in southern Chile, between the Taitao Peninsula at 46°S and the Northern Chonos Archipelago at 44°S.

Preparation of voucher specimens follows standard acetolysis method. The pollen types were photographed using a Nikon light microscope at 400x-1000x magnification (Scale given as long axis micrometres).

To read more about “Late Quaternary Environmental Dynamics of Southwestern Chile” visit http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ges/who/haberle/chile/chile1.html

Provenance
Hunter Valley

Peter Shimeld (PWS)

This collection is stored in the School of Geosciences, Disciplines of Geography and Environmental Science, The University of Newcastle and contains pollen and spores from modern plant material in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales.

The system of classification conforms to that used in the Flora of New South Wales (Harden 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993).

The family Fabaceae in the Flora of New South Wales (Harden, 1991; 311) is divided into 3 sub-families; Caesalpinioideae, Mimosoideae and Faboideae and are treated in this reference collection as separate families.

Laboratory processing of the reference pollen collection follows the standard methods described by Faegri and Iversen (1966) and Moore et al. (1991), using Erdtman's acetolysis and storage and mounting on microscope slides in glycerol.

When required, samples were stained using aqueous saffranin stain.

References:

  • Harden, G.J. (ed.) 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993. Flora of New South Wales volumes 1-4. Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust New South Wales University Press, Kensington, NSW.
  • Faegri, K., Iversen, J. 1966. Textbook of Pollen Analysis. 2nd Edition. Munksgaard, Copenhagen. 237pp.
  • Moore, P.D., Webb, J.A., Collinson, M.E. 1991. Pollen Analysis. 2nd Edition. Blackwell Scientific Publications, London. 216pp.
Tasmania

Michael Macphail (MM)

This CD only contains a partial representation of the collection.

The complete collection contains 538 species of pollen and spores from Tasmania.

The original collection resides in the Botany Department, University of Tasmania. A duplicate copy of the collection resides in the School of Geosciences, Disciplines of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Newcastle (Professor E A Colhoun).

 

Feli Hopf (FH)

This collection of pollen and spores was collected from the Lake St. Clair - Clarence Lagoon region of Tasmania. The collection resides in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Newcastle.

Tasmanian Flora References

  • Curtis, W.M. and Morris, D.I. 1975. The Student's Flora of Tasmania, Part 1 (2nd edition). St. David's Park Publishing, Hobart, Australia.
  • Curtis, W.M., 1967. The Student's Flora of Tasmania, Part 2 (2nd edition). St. David's Park Publishing, Hobart, Australia.
  • Curtis, W.M. 1967. The Student's Flora of Tasmania, Part 3 (1st edition). St. David's Park Publishing, Hobart, Australia.
  • Curtis, W.M. and Morris, D.I., 1994. The Student's Flora of Tasmania, Part 4B, Angiospermae: Alismataceae to Burmanniaceae. St. David's Park Publishing, Hobart, Australia.
  • Kirkpatrick, J., 1997. Alpine Tasmania: An illustrated guide to the flora and vegetation. Oxford University Press, South Melbourne Australia.
  • Launceston Field Naturalists Club, 1991. A Guide to Flowers and Plants of Tasmania. Reed Books, Chatswood, Australia.