Databases & collections
Scion is home to databases and collections of national and international importance.
They are widely used to support diagnostic services, research, and the development of industry standards. We maintain these collections and databases to a high standard.
We welcome public use of these resources. Please contact us for more information about access and any charges that might apply.
Forest health collections
These collections are the largest sample collections and databases relating to forest health in New Zealand. They comprise internationally registered living collections of fungi (and bacteria), dried specimens of fungi and plant material containing fungi, and forest insects. The forest health collections are important for identification and diagnostic services and support fundamental and operational pathology and entomology research.
Fungal collections
National Forest Culture Collection (NZFS)
This is an internationally registered living collection of around 6500 fungal specimens (including some bacteria and lichens) stored in culture. Some pathogenic (disease causing) fungi from overseas is stored in a containment facility.
National Forest Fungarium (NZFRIM)
Also internationally registered, this collection comprises around 5000 dried fungal specimens and plant material containing fungi. The earliest collections date back to the late 1800s from Sweden.
Wood Mycology Culture Collection
A nationally significant fungal collection (mould and decay fungi) isolated from the leaky building syndrome and from other buildings and wood products across New Zealand. The collection of about 300 fungi support evaluation of wood products to be used in New Zealand buildings.
Loans
Specimen loans are made to other herbaria in New Zealand and overseas rather than to individuals. Cultures are priced at $NZD400.00 each unless it is for genuine scientific research in which case there is no charge. If you require a culture for science research, please include a reference from your organisation outlining the nature of this research. Payment must be made before cultures are dispatched.
Contact
Darryl Herron, Team Lead, Pathogen Diagnostics and Collections
National Forestry Insect Collection (FRNZ)
The National Forestry Insect Collection contains entomological specimens - primarily forest insects and insects affecting timber in use. This is the most comprehensive collection of insects related to forestry in New Zealand. The collection was established in 1948, and now contains approximately 130,000 pinned specimens and 44,000 in ethanol.
The collection contains adults gathered during forest surveys and trapping, and those reared from field-collected caterpillars and wood boring larvae. Parasitoids are well represented;,as are immature stages. The collection also contains many exotic insects discovered during quarantine inspections of imported timbers, casewood and dunnage. Major holdings include Coleoptera (Cerambycidae, Curculionidae, Scolytidae); Lepidoptera (Tortricidae, Noctuidae, Geometridae); Hymenoptera (Ichneumonidae).
The collection is an essential research, diagnostic and archival resource for forest health work both in New Zealand and overseas. It is used routinely to provide identification and diagnostic services for pest detection surveillance programmes including the New Zealand Forest Owners Association’s Forest Biosecurity Surveillance Programme. The purpose of these programmes is early identification of new-to-New Zealand insects or pathogens, or pest and disease behaviours, that could have significant biosecurity implications for New Zealand’s trees and forests.
Areas of research supported by the insect collection include major taxonomic revisions and development of diagnostic tools, such as DNA barcoding for rapid diagnoses of pests discovered as immature life stages.
Contact
Stephanie Sopow, Forest Entomologist and collection curator
BUGS database
The BUGS database contains information about all wood and bark boring insects intercepted at New Zealand's border.This database covers the period between 1948 and 1999 and is owned by Scion.
A supplementary database contains information about fungi and egg masses intercepted between 1996 and 2000.
This valuable data is used for risk analysis purposes to determine likely pathways of incursion.
Contact
Andrew Cridge, Portfolio Leader, Trees for High Volume Wood Products
National Forestry Herbarium and Database (NZFRI)
This herbarium contains plants significant to plantation and indigenous forestry in New Zealand, including a wide range of native and amenity species.
Read more about the herbarium.
Contact
Matt Buys, Plant Taxonomist and herbarium curator
National Forestry Library
Publications and media relating to forestry and wood processing research over the last 75 years are held in the National Forestry Library at Scion. The library contains one of the largest collections of forestry, forest products, biomaterials, and pulp and paper literature in the Southern Hemisphere
Read more about the National Forestry Library
Contact
Wood collection
An extensive xylarium – a collection of wood samples consisting thousands of species from all over the world - is cared for at Scion. This collection can be used to compare samples with unknown timbers.
Read more about Scion's Xylarium.
Contact
Lloyd Donaldson, Microscopist and collection curator
National Wood Performance Archive
Around 70 years of records of wood durability and performance across four sites in New Zealand, including the ‘graveyard’ on Scion’s Rotorua campus. The archive is the reference for standard and building code development, evaluation of wood products developed in New Zealand and overseas, and establishment of durability classification for timber frown in New Zealand and overseas.
The information about wood durability gathered from the four sites provides a foundation for the timber industry and helps inform building practice standards and compliance. The testing is used to establish durability classifications for timber grown here and overseas. Information from the sites combined with information about structural performance established in Scion’s timber engineering lab informs how suitable wood products are for particular purposes.
The Rotorua includes above-ground tests like decking, cladding and joinery, and in-ground stakes, posts and poles while the three remote sites – near Whangārei, Hanmer and Waitarere – only have in-ground stakes.
Scion deliberately selected test sites with different environments and soil types to get a range of information.
Read more about the National Wood Performance Archive.
Our sites are listed at IRG/WP (International Research Group on Wood Protection) website.
Contact
Tripti Singh, timber durability expert.
Permanent Sample Plot (PSP) Database
An internationally unique database of sites that are used to measure growth and development of plantation forest trees across New Zealand.
Tree genetic archive
A living collection of genotypes across a range of indigenous and exotic species for the purposes of gene conservation, archival history and germplasm resources. More than 60 tree species are contained in the archive which started taking form in the 1950s and acts as a genetic resource. Today the oldest trees date back to 1962. Blocks within the living archive are sometimes harvested and replanted with different scientific trials.
The archive is also evidence of rare or strange species existing here such as Pinus ayacahuite planted in the 1960s which has large, heavy seeds, and Cupressus guadalupensis a vulnerable species endemic to Mexico where it only grows on Guadalupe Island. The trees on campus, alongside those in sister trials, also form a database of how species perform in various parts of New Zealand.
Contact
Toby Stovold, Technologist