Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the drastic changes at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the parent body of the Tasmanian Herbarium. I understand these changes include the abolition of the Head of Herbarium role and the subsumption of a reduced botanical staff into a general natural sciences unit under a junior manager. Consequently, the Herbarium will cease to exist as an independent entity led by a qualified, specialist manager who can advocate for botany, taxonomy, and herbarium collections with authority and experience.

The current Head of the Herbarium, Gintaras Kantvilas, is an internationally renowned scientist. Paradoxically, only last year he was named the Premier’s Tasmanian STEM Researcher of the Year in recognition of his contributions to Tasmania and lichenology over the past 40 years. His dismissal would represent a tremendous loss of expertise on Tasmanian biodiversity—a loss that would be felt well beyond the borders of Tasmania itself.

I sincerely hope that you will use your influence to reconsider this decision and maintain the entire staff of the Tasmanian Herbarium, which is an international centre of excellence of which Tasmania should be proud.

sincerely

Pier Luigi Nimis

(former President of the International Association of Lichenology)

Senior Professor of Systematic Botany

University of Trieste

Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita