2011 Report
2011 represented the nineteenth year that the Student’s Volunteer Botanical Intern Program (SVBIP) has been run. Eleven applicants from seven institutions successfully completed the Program in 2011, making a total since the program’s inception (1992) of 268 students. Students were working towards or had completed degrees in botany, environmental science and horticulture. In addition, two indigenous rangers from western Arnhem Land joined the interns for the first two weeks of the Program to develop their skills in field techniques, plant identification and herbarium management.
Output achieved by interns during 2011 was roughly equal to three quarters of a one person-year of technical labour. Interns participated in fieldwork and assisted herbarium staff in curatorial activities, including mounting and incorporation of vascular and non-vascular specimens, identification of specimens, allocation of labels to specimens ready for mounting, processing of loans and general herbarium tasks.
Assistance was again provided to the Acacia project research groups and to cryptogams with a number of tasks completed. Assistance was also provided to CSIRO researchers working on the noxious weed wild radish Raphanus raphanistrum.
Bronwyn Collins
SVBIP Coordinator
July 2011
(full report and review of 2011 program) |
