Australian Biological Resources Study

ABRS was founded in 1973 from the recommendations of a 1972 Senate Select Committee report on Wildlife Conservation.[1][2]

Its purpose is to collate from the many libraries, museums and other collections the taxonomy of Australia's estimated 2 million species of flora and fauna, including aquatic species.

These represent almost 20% of the earth's biodiversity, 80% of which are unique to Australia. ABRS has undertaken active funding for taxonomic research of Australia's biodiversity and is internationally recognised for its extensive data bases and publications.

The most important outputs of the ABRS has been the publication of the multi-volume Flora of Australia[3] and Fauna of Australia series.

Other output includes The Banksia Atlas and the "Platypus" database package for taxonomists.

Sponsored publications from grants, or publishing projects include:

Adams, Laurence G; Thiele, K. R; Australian Biological Resources Study (2001), Families of flowering plants of Australia : an interactive identification guide (Rev. ed.), CSIRO Publishing, ISBN 978-0-643-06721-9

Cribb, Thomas Herbert; Bray, R. A; Wright, T. (Trudy) (1996), Trematodes of Australian fishes : an analysis of the diversity of trematodes of Australian fishes prepared in conjunction with a final report for the ABRS grant of the same name, Dept. of Parasitology, The University of Queensland, retrieved 22 February 2020

Huisman, John Marinus; Australian Biological Resources Study (2000), Marine plants of Australia, University of Western Australia Press in association with Australian Biological Resources Study, ISBN 978-1-876268-33-6

• "Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS)". Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006. Retrieved 27 June 2006.