Citizen Scientists and Trees Needed for Seasonality 色花堂app in Pocatello
April 8, 2022
The 色花堂app Department of Biological Sciences needs your help researching the trees around Pocatello.
Scientists in Dr. Rebecca Hale鈥檚 urban socio-hydrology lab are asking residents to volunteer a tree in their front yard for observation. Currently, researchers are looking for the following tree species:
- Littleleaf linden
- Callery pear
- Green ash
- Russian olive
- Crab apple
- Siberian elm
- Honeylocust
- Norway maple
鈥淭his research will better allow us to monitor how the trees are changing through the seasons and know more precisely when leaves, fruit and seeds sprout and fall off of a tree,鈥� said Brittany Folk, Post-Baccalaureate Scholar.
Additionally, researchers are looking to enlist the help of citizen scientists to help check on the trees. Trees that are volunteered will have a small sign with a link to a brief survey that community members can use to enter data about how the tree is faring at that moment. The survey features questions about the whether fruit or seeds are on the tree, the tree鈥檚 general health, and more.
鈥淏y using citizen science, we can monitor more trees than would be possible using just one researcher checking a tree each day,鈥� Folk said. 鈥淭his will allow us to get more wide-reaching data about the timing of trees within our cities and give us a greater understanding of a large part of our city's ecosystem.鈥�
The compiled data will be used to better monitor leaf and seed material on the ground in future studies and help provide researchers with more information about citizen science data collection techniques.
If you are interested in volunteering your trees for the research, contact Brittany Folk at brittanyfolk@isu.edu.
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