What’s new on the Australian Virtual Seed Bank Portal?
The Australian Virtual Seed Bank (AVSB) has recently been updated with a suite of new features designed to make exploring Australia’s conservation seed collections easier, faster, and more informative than ever before.
One of the most exciting additions is a new global map, which brings all seed collection locations together in one interactive view. Users can now visualise where seed was secured, and filter results through searchable maps. This makes it easier to understand regional gaps in our collections, and can inform planning of future conservation efforts.
You’ll also notice a new Seed Bank Snapshot page. This section provides key statistics of what’s held in our collections, and for the first time all our data is also easily downloadable. Importantly, users can now filter collection records for national threatened species. This new functionality allows for seamless reporting on national and international plant conservation targets, and makes it simpler for users to find information relevant to rare flora in their state and territory.
Behind the scenes, we’ve made some other key improvements. The system now collects information about users’ organisations and the purpose of downloads, helping us better understand who needs our data and how the AVSB is being used. The portal has also received visual, stability, and navigation updates, making it clearer and more intuitive to use.
Whether you’re a researcher, land manager, student, or simply curious about Australia’s native plants, these new features make the AVSB an even more powerful window into our conservation seed collections. We invite you to explore what’s new today!
