New tools for weed id: Apps, interactive keys and citizen science

Murray Dawson Landcare Research Lincoln New Zealand

• Herbarium resources – Plant Names Database – Allan Herbarium – NZ Virtual Herbarium – eFlora – fact sheets

Outline • Interactive keys to NZ flora

– weeds – grasses – flowering plant genera – Coprosma – orchids etc.

• Free tools

– citizen science solutions – smartphone apps.

• The most authoritative and up-to-date database for NZ plant names • Scientific names

– Synonyms – Common names – Descriptions etc.

• Wide scope – Seed plants – Ferns – Mosses – Lichens – Liverworts – Freshwater algae

• >30,000 records • http://nzflora.landcareresearch.co.nz

Plant Names Database

http://nzflora.landcareresearch.co.nz

Main entrance

Fern & Gymnosperm Vault (Kereru Room)

Allan Herbarium

Herbarium specimen label

New Zealand National Herbarium Network

New Zealand Virtual Herbarium www.virtualherbarium.org.nz

Ulex europaeus (gorse) herbarium records

Ulex europaeus (gorse) distribution

New Zealand eflora

• A new initiative to update and replace the traditional printed copies of the Flora of New Zealand series

• New and revised taxonomic treatments

• Factsheets • Dynamic, continually updated • www.nzflora.info

• A new initiative to update and replace the traditional printed copies of the Flora of New Zealand series

• New and revised taxonomic treatments

• Factsheets • Dynamic, continually updated • www.nzflora.info

• New Zealand Plant Conservation Network has similar resources

• Will interconnect in future • www.nzpcn.org.nz

Floras • Authoritative • Comprehensive • Technical • Detailed descriptions • Steep learning curve but very useful • New Zealand Floras – 5 main volumes,

different groups

1. Allan 1961 2. Moore & Edgar 1970 3. Healy & Edgar 1980 4. Webb, Sykes, Garnock-Jones 1988 5. Edgar & Connor 2000, 2010 6. Others – lichens, desmids, liverworts, mosses

• Most relevant to weeds:

Vol. 3 (monocots) Vol. 4 (ferns, conifers, dicots) Vol. 5 (grass flora)

NZ Floras

What about Floras for plant identification?

–Not user friendly

•Technical language •Complex descriptions •Lack of illustrations.

–Traditional printed keys

•“Written by those who don’t need them for those who can’t use them” •Only one start point •Often rely on floral characters.

–Not user friendly •Technical language •Complex descriptions •Lack of illustrations.

–Traditional printed keys

•“Written by those who don’t need them for those who can’t use them” •Only one start point •Often rely on floral characters.

1. L. multiflorum Lam., Fl. Franc. 3: 621 (1778). Italian ryegrass, Westerwolds ryegrass Annual to biennial, slender to rather stout tufts, (20)-40-100-(130) cm; branching intravaginal, leaf-blade rolled when young. Leaf-sheath glabrous, pink at base to light brown above, not becoming very fibrous; upper sheaths sometimes scabrid. Auricles usually present, to 1.6 mm. Ligule (0.6)-1-2.5 mm, truncate, glabrous. Leaf-blade (5.5)-8-30 cm × (0.7)-2.5-9-(11) mm, abaxially glabrous and shining, adaxially smooth or usually scaberulous; margins scaberulous, tapered to scabrid acute tip. Culm 10-60 cm, erect, or spreading or decumbent, often branched below, internodes smooth. Spikes (9.5)-15-35-(45) cm, erect or curved; rachis c. 1 mm wide, usually ± scabrid. Spikelets 14-25 mm, (4)-9-14-flowered, green or purplish, overlapping, or more than their own length apart. Upper glume usually « spikelet, 5-7-nerved, narrow-lanceolate or narrow-oblong, obtuse or acute, glabrous. Lemma 6-8 mm, 5-nerved, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, smooth or minutely scaberulous especially on hyaline margins, not turgid at maturity, apex obtuse or shortly bifid; awn (2)-4-10 mm, fine, straight, subapical. Palea ≈ lemma, keels scaberulous. Anthers 3-4.5 mm. Caryopsis 2-4 × 0.5-1.5 mm. Naturalised.

Description (top) Part of a traditional key (bottom)

Iris pseudacorus

Interactive identification keys

• Numerous images, taxa and characters

• Multi-access • Dynamic and efficient • Easy and fun to use

Interactive identification keys

• Numerous images, taxa and characters

• Multi-access • Dynamic and efficient • Easy and fun to use

• Allow for character misinterpretation

New Zealand plant interactive keys • LucidTM software

– Industry leading software – Developed by (CBIT), University of Queensland, Australia – www.lucidcentral.org

• Available in NZ since 2005 • Most created by Allan Herbarium staff and collaborators • Two-year projects

– 100s of characters – 1000s of images

• Most online at Landcare Research website – www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resources/identification/plants

• Links to other resources – Factsheets, Plant Names Database, NZPCN, NZNOG, WeedBusters

• Free due to public-good funding – TFBIS (Terrestrial & Freshwater Biodiversity Information System)

Programme

New Zealand plant interactive keys

• Weeds • Grasses • Flowering plant genera • Australasian liverwort and hornwort genera • Coprosma • Native orchids • Native plants of schools and marae • Biodiversity at Styx Mill • Cultivated pines (Scion)

Completed:

Others:

• Cotoneaster • Ferns & conifers of Cass • Weedy daisies of the South Pacific

New Zealand plant interactive keys

• Weeds • Grasses • Flowering plant genera • Australasian liverwort and hornwort genera • Coprosma • Native orchids • Native plants of schools and marae • Biodiversity at Styx Mill • Cultivated pines (Scion)

Completed:

Others:

• Cotoneaster • Ferns & conifers of Cass • Weedy daisies of the South Pacific

Weeds key •NPPA, environmental weeds, related taxa •Training tool for NPPA compliance of RA Biosecurity Officers •>500 spp.; new funding to add >100 common weed species •By Murray Dawson, Sheldon Navie, Trevor James, Peter Heenan, Paul Champion etc. •www.landcareresearch.co.nz

New Zealand plant interactive keys

Grass key •Indigenous and naturalised grasses •435 spp. & 4 hybrids •Online 2007 •Follows Flora of NZ, Vol. 5 (2000, 2010) •By Kerry Ford, David Glenny & Trevor James •www.landcareresearch.co.nz

New Zealand plant interactive keys

Flowering plant genera •Genus-level key to native and naturalised flowering plants •1075 genera •Completed June 2013 •By David Glenny, Trevor James, Jane Cruickshank, Murray Dawson, Kerry Ford & Ilse Breitwieser •www.landcareresearch.co.nz

New Zealand plant interactive keys

New Zealand plant interactive keys

The key is divided into 4 panes…

Characters available

Characters chosen

Species remaining

Species discarded

New Zealand plant interactive keys

Citizen Science: NatureWatch NZ

• Natural history observations http://naturewatch.org.nz/ – Based on iNaturalist – Image upload (Flickr interface) – Locality info – Area polygons – Community Ids and feedback – Spreadsheet import/export

• Projects, e.g., – Weeds – Native orchids – Field trips

Botanical Society field trip

Observation within the project

Embedded ‘widget’

Smartphone apps

• NatureWatch NZ – Field observations via smartphone that syncs to website – iPhone app (Android to come)

• Lucid Mobile – Uses the same builder data – Simpler interface – New TFBIS funding to convert five

Landcare keys into free apps (including Weeds Key)

– Environmental Weeds of Australia app is closest to (and shares data with) forthcoming NZ Weeds key

Smartphone apps

Smartphone apps

Smartphone apps

Summary

• Concepts discussed – Federated data – Shared platforms – Open source coding – Multi-contributor and collaborative

(‘Citizen science’, ‘Crowdsourcing’)

Summary

• There are some very useful NZ-focussed online resources – Free and public-good

(often TFBIS) funded – Many are interconnected – User friendly

Summary

• There are some very useful NZ-focussed online resources – Free and public-good

(often TFBIS) funded – Many are interconnected – User friendly – Need to choose which will

best suit your needs

• Smartphone apps will be increasingly used – Smartphone is the device

of choice for 48% of New Zealanders

– Thousands of apps available.

Summary