Chapman, Alex R.   (1959 - )

Born in Sydney, NSW, on 5 October, 1959;

Alex studied botany and biochemistry at the University of New England and subsequently at Sydney University whilst working at the National Herbarium of New South Wales on the systematics of Leucopogon (Ericaceae) as part of the Flora of Australia project.

On moving to Perth in 1987 he worked on the genus Acacia (Fabaceae : Mimosoideae), focusing on the systematics of the Acacia bivenosa group and the preparation of detailed species descriptions, now published in two volumes of the Flora of Australia series. During this time he also completed a degree in Computer Science at Murdoch University.

At the Western Australian Herbarium, much of his work focused on the development of corporate botanical information systems, such as WAHERB - the specimen database, and WACENSUS - the taxon names database along with descriptive datasets and methods for delivering maps and images online. In 1998 this work culminated in the launch of the 'FloraBase - the Western Australian Flora' web portal.

During 1998-99 he held the position of 42nd Australian Botanical Liaison Officer (ABLO) at the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in London. He has represented the WA Herbarium at the Nomenclature Section of two International Botanical Conferences (St. Louis, 1999 and Vienna, 2005).

In latter years he worked as a Consulting Scientist with the environmental technology consultancy Gaia Resources. There he managed their Citizen Science program and worked in business development, project management, and in marketing for the company.

His long-term systematic research interests are in a number of Australian genera of the vascular plant family Ericaceae. Alex has had a history researching the circumscription and systematic relationships within the largest genus Leucopogon, as well as the southern genus Monotoca and new western species of Melichrus.

Source: Extracted from: https://www.freonet.net/about-me
Portrait Photo: 2001, M.Fagg.

Collecting localities for 'Chapman, A.R.' from AVH (2022)

Data from 866 specimens