Biological Specimen Collections of Bhutan Collections

The College of Natural Resources is a college offering courses on agriculture, natural resources management, animal husbandry, sustainable development, forestry, environment and climate studies. Staffed by 40 national teachers, the college has highly qualified and experienced teaching faculties. With sound grounding in their professional courses mainly from India, many of the teaching faculties have their Master’s and PhD degree from Europe, Australia and the USA. Among the RUB’s colleges, the CNR has the maximum number of faculties with PhD degree. There are 48 administrative and support staff.

Contact: Dr. Dhan B. Gurung (dbg2006@gmail.com)

Home Page: www.cnr.edu.bt

This dataset comprises the fern and lycophyte specimens records depoisted at the National Hebrarium (THIM). Bhutan is a small, landlocked country with an area of 38,394 km2 situated on the southern slope of the Eastern Himalayas. Straddling the two major Indo-Malayan and Palearctic biogeographic realms, Bhutan is part of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot and contains 23 Important Bird Areas (IBA), 8 ecoregions, a number of Important Plant Areas (IPA) and wetlands, including two Ramsar Sites. The diverse ecosystems and eco-floristic zones have made Bhutan home to a wide array of flora and fauna.

The National Herbarium was initiated by the Department of Forests and Parks Services in conjunction with the Flora of Bhutan Project in the mid 1970s. In 1987 the herbarium was moved to Taba and housed with the forest research library under the Forest Research Division. With the establishment of National Biodiversity Centre in 1999, the herbarium was relocated to the present location at Serbithang. The new herbarium building at Serbithang was completed in 2002, with funding support from Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). Currently, the herbarium houses more than 16,000 barcoded herbarium specimens of Angiosperms, Gymnosperms, Pteridophytes (+2200), Fungi (+1500), Lichens and Byrophytes (+850).

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Contact: Data manager: Michael B. Thomas; Curators: Rinchen Dorji (rdmagma@gmail.com) and Rinchen Yangzom (ryangzom@moaf.gov.bt)

Home Page: http://nbc.gov.bt/?page_id=3269

Bhutan is a small, landlocked country with an area of 38,394 km2 situated on the southern slope of the Eastern Himalayas. Straddling the two major Indo-Malayan and Palearctic biogeographic realms, Bhutan is part of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot and contains 23 Important Bird Areas (IBA), 8 ecoregions, a number of Important Plant Areas (IPA) and wetlands, including two Ramsar Sites. The diverse ecosystems and eco-floristic zones have made Bhutan home to a wide array of flora and fauna. This collection is an assemblage of specimen records from Bhutan but not currently accessible through the National Biodiversity Centre National Herbarium as well as the collection held in Bhutan.

The National Herbarium was initiated by the Department of Forests and Parks Services in conjunction with the Flora of Bhutan Project in the mid 1970s. In 1987 the herbarium was moved to Taba and housed with the forest research library under the Forest Research Division. With the establishment of National Biodiversity Centre in 1999, the herbarium was relocated to the present location at Serbithang. The new herbarium building at Serbithang was completed in 2002, with funding support from Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). Currently, the herbarium houses more than 15,000 barcoded herbarium specimens of Angiosperms, Gymnosperms, Pteridophytes (+2000), Fungi, Lichens and Byrophytes (+850).

Contact: Rinchen Yangzom (ryangzom@moaf.gov.bt)

Home Page: http://www.nbc.gov.bt/work-units/national-herbarium

Bhutan is a small, landlocked country with an area of 38,394 km2 situated on the southern slope of the Eastern Himalayas. Straddling the two major Indo-Malayan and Palearctic biogeographic realms, Bhutan is part of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot and contains 23 Important Bird Areas (IBA), 8 ecoregions, a number of Important Plant Areas (IPA) and wetlands, including two Ramsar Sites. The diverse ecosystems and eco-floristic zones have made Bhutan home to a wide array of flora and fauna.

The National Herbarium was initiated by the Department of Forests and Parks Services in conjunction with the Flora of Bhutan Project in the mid 1970s. In 1987 the herbarium was moved to Taba and housed with the forest research library under the Forest Research Division. With the establishment of National Biodiversity Centre in 1999, the herbarium was relocated to the present location at Serbithang. The new herbarium building at Serbithang was completed in 2002, with funding support from Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). Currently, the herbarium houses more than 16,000 barcoded herbarium specimens of Angiosperms, Gymnosperms, Pteridophytes (+2200), Fungi, Lichens and Byrophytes (+850).

In 2017, the herbarium received assistance from Dr. Michael B. Thomas through a partnership with the US Fulbright program. This collaboration led to the digitization of the herbarium specimen collection and specimen data portal development. Dr. Thomas currently serves as the Data Curator.

Contact: Rinchen Yangzom (ryangzom@moaf.gov.bt)

Home Page: http://nbc.gov.bt/?page_id=3269

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is rich in biodiversity and is unique due to its well-preserved landscapes ranging from lowland rainforest to high alpine habitats. The birds and mammals of Bhutan are well studied but information on invertebrates is limited. The Bhutanese-Dutch cooperation aims to make information on this forgotten diversity available to both scientist and volunteers through the publication of field guides, posters and scientific papers. The project is coordinated by National Biodiversity Centre (NBC) at Thimphu where also the Bhutanese national natural history collection is housed.

Contact: Choki Gyeltshen (chokig@gmail.com)

Home Page: https://science.naturalis.nl/en/research/bhutan-biodiversity-project/

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is rich in biodiversity and is unique due to its well-preserved landscapes ranging from lowland rainforest to high alpine habitats. The birds and mammals of Bhutan are well studied but information on invertebrates is limited. The Bhutanese-Dutch cooperation aims to make information on this forgotten diversity available to both scientist and volunteers through the publication of field guides, posters and scientific papers. The project is coordinated by National Biodiversity Centre (NBC) at Thimphu where also the Bhutanese national natural history collection is housed.

Contact: Choki Gyeltshen (chokig@gmail.com)

Home Page: https://science.naturalis.nl/en/research/bhutan-biodiversity-project/

The National Mushroom Center (NMC) has developed extensive experience in production and marketing of edible and medicinal mushrooms. The National Mushroom Centre (NMC) is based in Wanchutaba, Thimphu. The Centre staff report directly to the Horticulture Division of the Department of Agriculture.

One of the primary activities of the Centre is to develop the National Fungi Herbarium from collecting wild mushrooms, identifying the specimens and drying the fungi specimens for preservation in the herbarium. Currently, more than 2100 fungi specimens including poisonous, edible, and medicinal fungi have been collected. Specimen data is databased and specimens are digitally imaged with data published in a publicly available specimen data portal. The herbarium collection is being expanded through additional field expeditions and collecting throughout Bhutan.

In 2017, the herbarium received assistance from Dr. Michael B. Thomas through a partnership with the US Fulbright program. This collaboration led to the databasing of the specimen collection and specimen data portal development. Dr. Thomas currently serves as a Data Curator.

Contact: Sabitra Pradhan, Myco-Diversity Program Director (sabitrap2008@gmail.com)

Home Page: www.moaf.gov.bt

During the creation of the publication entitled the Fungi of Bhutan (Mata, M., D. Penjor and S. Pradham. 2010), 41 fungi species were observed but were unable to be collected as a specimens. Below is the checklist of these species. The wild mushroom unit at NMC plans to explore the original site locations for specimens to collect.

The National Mushroom Center (NMC) has developed extensive experience in production and marketing of edible and medicinal mushrooms. The National Mushroom Centre (NMC) is based in Wanchutaba, Thimphu. The Centre staff report directly to the Horticulture Division of the Department of Agriculture. One of the primary activities of the Centre is to develop the National Fungi Herbarium from collecting wild mushrooms, identifying the specimens and drying the fungi specimens for preservation in the herbarium. Currently, more than 850 fungi specimens including poisonous, edible, and medicinal fungi have been collected. Specimen data is databased and specimens are digitally imaged with data published in a publicly available specimen data portal. The herbarium collection is being expanded through additional field expeditions and collecting throughout Bhutan.

Contact: Dawa Penjor (dawa63@gmail.com), Program Director or Sabitra Pradhan (sabitrap2008@gmail.com)

Home Page: www.moaf.gov.bt

The National Research Centre for Riverine & Lake Fisheries, Haa has made detailed surveys and inventories of Bhutan's three western river basins and their tributaries.

Contact: Singye Tshering, Program Director and Karma Wangchuk, Sr. Livestock Production Officer (karmaw@moaf.gov.bt)

Home Page: http://www.moaf.gov.bt

Contact: Hidetoshi Nagamasu, Curator (nagamasu@inet.museum.kyoto-u.ac.jp)

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595 Tropicos records. The Missouri Botanical Garden’s Herbarium is one of the world’s outstanding research resources for specimens and information on bryophytes and vascular plants. The collection is limited to these two major groups of plants. As of 31 December 2015 the collection had 6.66 million specimens (6.1 million vascular plants and 563,000 bryophytes).

Contact: Michael B. Thomas, Data Manager (michaelbthomas@gmail.com)

Home Page: http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plant-science/plant-science/resources/herbarium.aspx

6481 specimen records. RBGE's extensive Herbarium numbers nearly three million specimens representing half to two thirds of the world's flora. It is considered a leading botanical collection, and every year many researchers from around the world visit to study our specimens in a well-designed and user-friendly setting.

Contact: Michael B. Thomas, Data Curator (michaelbthomas@gmail.com)

Home Page: http://elmer.rbge.org.uk

626 specimen records. Preserved Specimens at Kew.

Contact: Michael B. Thomas, Data Manager (michaelbthomas@gmail.com)

Home Page: https://www.kew.org/science/collections/Herbarium

973 specimens. The Natural History Museum (London) specimen collection.

Contact: Michael B. Thomas, Data Manager (michaelbthomas@gmail.com)

Home Page: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

The Herbarium of the University of Tokyo (TI) is the oldest herbarium in Japan, founded in 1877 when the University of Tokyo was established. TI keeps ca. 170 million specimens, mainly collected from East Asia (Japan, Korean Peninsula, North-east China, Taiwan, etc.) and the Himalaya and adjacent regions (Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, South-west China, etc.). Many type specimens (more than 20,000 specimens) are included in the collection.

The specimens are separated and housed into two institutions: one is the University Museum (TI-UM), keeping specimens belonging to Monocotyledons and Choripetalae of Angiospermae, and another is the Botanical Gardens, Graduate School of Science (TI-BG), keeping specimens belonging to Pteridophytes, Gymnospermae, and Sympetalae of Angiospermae.

Specimens of lichens and Bryophytes are permanently on loan to the Herbarium of National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo (TNS), and specimens of Algae are on loan to the Herbarium of the University Museum, Hokkaido University (SAP).

Contact: Curator ()

Home Page: http://umdb.um.u-tokyo.ac.jp

The Royal Botanical Garden, Serbithang (RBGS) was established in May 1999 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee Celebration of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo. The main mandate of the garden is to act as an ex situ conservation area for the country’s flora and to educate the public on the value of conservation. The initial establishment of the garden was funded by Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation (BTFEC). The RBGS with an area spanning over 28 acres is frequented by coordinated educational visits and is a favourite spot for family outings and picnics as well. The primary functions of the Royal Botanical Garden are to:

a) Serve as a living repository of plant genetic diversity for ex-situ conservation and research
b) Serve as a rescue centre for rare and threatened floral species and promote restoration
c) Promote propagation of prioritized native plants species to reduce pressures on collection from the wild and to ensure their sustainable use
d) Provide facilities and services for plant propagation and environmental education
e) Promote regional and international linkages for effective conservation and management of native plant species

Contact: Sangay Dema and Pem Zam, pzam@moal.gov.bt (sangaydema@moaf.gov.bt)

Home Page: http://nbc.gov.bt/?page_id=39