The National Vegetation Survey Databank (NVS) is a physical archive and
electronic databank containing records of over 104,000 vegetation survey plots -
including data from over 24,000 permanent plots.
  
Each year the NVS team produces an annual report to summarise the activities
for the year.  This report describes the new data that has been archived in
NVS, significant data revisions that have been made, efforts to increase
end-user awareness, how NVS data are being used by data accumulators (such as
GBIF), international collaborations, website usage statistics, a summary of NVS
data requests and a list of publications that are based on data archived in
NVS.  The report for 2016-17 can be accessed from the NVS website via the home
page http://nvs.landcareresearch​​.co​​.nz​​/ (see "What's new") or directly from
https://nvs.landcareresearch​.co​.nz​/Resources​/Publications
  
The NVS team welcomes any feedback about this report.

Dear friend


I have changed my email address from pmhughes@clear.net.nz to 
phughes@actrix.co.nz as Vodafone are closing my Clear email server :-((

Please change your email address book if you wish to keep in touch

Any emails sent by mistake to this email will still reach me for a while


Kind regards


Paul Hughes

Hello

I am thinking about doing some large scale vegetation mapping for statistics.  I've been looking at using satellite data from this list of satellite data - http://gisgeography.com/free-satellite-imagery-data-list/

Now, I know there are some indices out there like Normalized Vegetation Difference Index but I don't know if this will tell me much about biodiversity.  It sounds like I can use open source tools to do these types of analyses like QGIS...  It could just be that it tells me if there's vegetation there or not, if the NDVI value is high?

Does anyone have any experience mapping out vegetation biodiversity that can confirm this assumption?

The National Vegetation Survey Databank (NVS) is a physical archive and
electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots -
including data from over 19,000 permanent plots.
  
Each year the NVS team produces an annual report to summarise the activities
for the year.  This report describes the new data that has been archived in
NVS, significant data revisions that have been made, efforts to increase
end-user awareness, how NVS data are being used by data accumulators (such as
GBIF), international collaborations, website usage statistics, a summary of NVS
data requests and a list of publications that are based on data archived in
NVS.  The report for 2015-16 can be accessed from the NVS website via the home
page http://nvs.landcareresearch​.co​.nz​/ (see "What's new") or directly from
https://nvs.landcareresearch.co.nz/Resources/Publications  

The NVS team welcomes any feedback about this report.

Hi all, 

As part of a national meeting of NZ botanic gardens, held in Auckland on November 3rd, we are holding an afternoon of talks on topics relevant to garden record keeping (see list below).

We have room for a few extra people to attend.  If you are interested please contact Emma Bodley of Auckland Regional Botanic Garden: Emma.Bodley@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Contributed Papers Session 2: BRON* organising rest of the days sessions
1.45 – 1.50	Tom Myers (Dunedin), update on the BRON network 
1.50 – 2.05	Rewi Elliot (Otari) MapStory 
2.05 – 2.20	Karin van der Walt (Otari) Conservation, science and garden databases 
2.20 – 2.35	Jonathon Wilcken  (Auckland Zoo) Species360 database
2.35 – 2.50	Mike McMurtry (Auckland Council) Engaging with research 
2.50 – 3.05	Ewen Cameron (Auckland Herbarium) NZ herbarium network: connections between gardens and herbaria, records and specimens 
3.05 – 3.20	Murray Dawson (Landcare Research) Progress on the NZ Plant Collection Register and cultivated plant names

*BRON: Botanic Gardens of Australia and New Zealand Records Officers Network (BGANZ).

Regards, Tom Myers

FYI:

Coca-Abia, M.M.; Romero-Samper, J. 2016: Establishment of the identity of Costelytra zealandica (White 1846) (Coleoptera: Scarabeidae: Melolonthinae) a species commonly known as the New Zealand grass grub. New Zealand entomologist, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00779962.2016.1230254

This article should never have made it through peer review! There is absolutely no reason for the name Costelytra zealandica (New Zealand grass grub) to be changed to Costelytra giveni! Article 75.6 ( http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted-sites/iczn/code/index.jsp?article=75 ) of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature should instead be invoked to maintain prevailing usage of the name Costelytra zealandica, and prevailing usage maintained until the Commission makes a ruling! This is exactly the sort of situation whereby nobody should want the name to change. Art. 75.6 of the Code provides a way to avoid such counterproductive changes, but it has not been even considered in the above publication!

Stephen