You are here

Harvard Forest >

Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2018

  • Title: #WitnessTree A Tweeting Tree??
  • Author: Kyle A Wyche (University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus)
  • Abstract:

    The purpose of this project is to create a system for plants to communicate with humans in a way that humans will understand. This four-part automated system has been built on the Witness Tree, a red oak tree that has a century of environmental conditions stored in its wooden memory. First, a series of sensors including dendrometer bands, sap flow, and thermistors, are installed on the tree to collect data. Then a datalogger reads data from the sensors and transfers it to a computer in near-real time along with meteorological data from a local weather tower to determine the state of the tree and its environment. A series of scripts then run to create graphics, and corresponding reader-friendly messages. The final step is to run a script that searches for messages and graphics preset with specific publishing dates and then publishes those results to the public twitter handle @awitnesstree. Benefits of this system include providing unbiased data where the tree merely communicates it, in a time when #FakeNews is trending on twitter, and it broadcasts the importance of trees to a larger audience. Future plans for this project include creating a website that explains how this system works and where tools, such as code and instructions, for building these systems will be available online. In that way the Harvard Forest @awitnesstree will provide the means to creating a network of instrumented trees that communicate to humans about environmental changes.

  • Research Category: Physiological Ecology, Population Dynamics, and Species Interactions; Forest-Atmosphere Exchange; Ecological Informatics and Modelling