App development for Science and

Citizen Science

Chuck Bargeron Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health

Dr. Rich Hallett, USFS NYC Urban Field Station

HTHC Phone App Partners

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Nexus 7 by ASUS (2013)

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Less than $150 Built in GPS 5 MP Rear Camera Auto Focus 0.64lbs (290g) 10 hour battery Front 1.2MP fixed focus

Healthy Cities Healthy Trees App

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Healthy Cities Healthy Trees App

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Healthy Cities Healthy Trees App

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• Skill-building for teamwork, conflict resolution, public service, delegation, time management, representing TNC

Youth leadership

development

• Skill-building for securing employment, office organization, field work, project management, public speaking

Employment

skills

• Career Exploration Opportunities • Education Exploration Opportunities

Engage Exposure to

employment opps/

educational opps

• Promote understanding of urban conservation • Post-program understanding of urban forests

Empower Awareness of

Urban Nature

• Strategic evaluation of HTHC – THM “app” Resources

Development

• 6500 Trees Surveyed • 1000 City Blocks

Tree Health

Monitoring/ Early

Pest Detection

Summer 2015 Internship Objectives

NYC and Philadelphia

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Field Work

Urban Tree Health Monitoring (USFS)

Trees Count! Street Tree Census

• UTHM Protocol (USFS)/ Tree Kit Method

• NYC: The Bronx and Manhattan

• Philadelphia: City-wide

• Community Engagement

Hurricane Sandy Impact Study (USFS) [NYC Only]

• UTHM Protocol (USFS) & Chlorophyll Fluorescence

• London Plane Trees and Red Maples

• Queens

Youth Leadership Development Projects

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Urban Tree Health Monitoring Protocol (USFS)

Minimum Data Set Tree Health Monitoring

Insect Survey Chlorophyll Fluorescence

Diameter at breast height (DBH)

Genus/Species Location

o GPS o Tree Kit

Method

Discoloration Defoliation Fine Twig

Dieback Crown Light

Exposure Vigor Rating Transparency

Exit holes Oviposition sites Galleries Frass Exudation Bark Fissures Epicormic

Sprouts Presence of

Adult insects

Tree Location Photosynthetic

efficacy (using PEA handheld fluorescence meter)

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Urban Tree Health Monitoring Protocol Non-Stressor Specific Evaluation of Tree Health

Images Courtesy of Dr. Rich Hallett, USFS

Tree 77 Stress Index 0.81

Tree 65 Stress Index 1.3

Tree 36 Stress Index -0.783

Healthy Stressed Science Based

Phone app that will calculate a stress index for each tree providing immediate feedback to the user.

Variable Notes

Dieback Visual estimate

Transparency Digital estimate

Discolor Visual estimate

Crown Vigor Visual estimate

Tree 36 Stress Index -0.783

Tree 71 Stress Index -.409

Tree 45 Stress Index -0.191

Tree 77 Stress Index 0.81

Tree 65 Stress Index 1.3

Tree 75 Stress Index -0.009

We are creating a scientific framework to analyze and report the data back out to scientists, managers and

professionals in ways that are meaningful and rigorous.

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Sample Design

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Variable NYC PHL

# Trees 3750 2690

# plots 58 100

Avg trees/plot 64.7 37.5

Min (trees/plot) 7 1

Max (trees/plot) 134 114

Species (#) 92 87

Summer 2015 Accomplishments

During the eight-week long Internship, the twenty interns conducted urban tree health monitoring surveys on trees along the streets of New York City and Philadelphia. Dressed in bright orange “cruiser vests” and equipped with forest measurement tools and the newly-developed Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities smart phone application (app), the interns were out on the sidewalks of their respective cities measuring the health of thousands of street trees.

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Species Rank (most trees) AVGDBH MaxDBH AvgVigor AvgDieback

London planetree 1 22.7 50.0 2.4 9.5

plum/cherry 2 10.7 32.9 1.6 7.8

Norway maple 3 14.8 44.3 2.1 13.5

red maple 4 12.1 33.0 1.9 6.7

honeylocust 5 7.8 21.2 1.8 8.6

Callery pear (Bradford pear) 6 10.6 22.0 1.4 4.9

Japanese zelkova 7 8.6 30.4 1.4 9.5

littleleaf linden 8 12.5 35.4 1.9 6.4

ginkgo 9 13.8 26.2 1.7 11.1

hawthorn 10 3.9 12.4 1.7 11.6

Philadelphia

City by City – Preliminary Analysis – more to come

Preliminary QA/QC data

• 1 tree out of 57 (1.8%) had a

species identification problem.

• DBH 88.9% of intern data

within 5% of re-measure.

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Oconomowoc, WI Engaging Local Boy Scouts in Tree Health Assessment

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Emerald Ash Borer

City Forester’s Primary Concern

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Goal Assess health of all city owned Ash Trees

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• All 300 ash trees were assessed by the end of the growing season.

• How reliable is data collected by Citizen Scientists with minimal

training?

• 30 trees selected randomly and re-measured by expert.

• Results coming soon.

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January 2016