New id tools: Lucid keys, apps and other resources. Murray Dawson Landcare Research Lincoln, New Zealand

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1 New id tools: Lucid keys, apps and other resources Murray Dawson Landcare Research Lincoln, New Zealand

2 Interactive keys NZ flora Coprosma flowering plant genera orchids weeds grasses etc. Outline Mobile app development Smartphones and tablets Android and ios Allan Herbarium Plant Biosystematics Group Free tools Citizen science solutions

3 New Zealand flora series Authoritative Botanists Bibles Comprehensive Technical Detailed descriptions Dichotomous ID keys New Zealand Floras 5 main volumes, different groups 1. Allan Moore & Edgar Healy & Edgar Webb, Sykes, Garnock-Jones Edgar & Connor 2000, Others lichens, desmids, liverworts, mosses NZ Floras

4 What about Floras for plant Not user friendly Technical language Complex descriptions Lack of illustrations. identification? 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.

5 1. L. multiflorum Lam., Fl. Franc. 3: 621 (1778). Italian ryegrass, Westerwolds ryegrass 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. Annual to biennial, slender to rather stout tufts, (20) (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) mm, truncate, glabrous. Leaf-blade (5.5)-8-30 cm (0.7) (11) mm, abaxially glabrous and shining, adaxially smooth or usually scaberulous; margins scaberulous, tapered to scabrid acute tip. Culm cm, erect, or spreading or decumbent, often branched below, internodes smooth. Spikes (9.5) (45) cm, erect or curved; rachis c. 1 mm wide, usually ± scabrid. Spikelets 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 mm. Caryopsis mm. Naturalised. Lolium description (top) Part of a traditional key (bottom)

6 Field guides Field guides are derived works, e.g., Common weeds of New Zealand Threatened plants Small-leaved shrubs Wild plants of Mt Cook Wild orchids of the lower North Island Illustrated guide to sun orchids Field guide to native trees

7 Field guides for plant id? Id s are often through page-flipping Limited number of species Limited images for each sp. Become out-of-date

8 Interactive identification keys Multi-access Dynamic and efficient Easy and fun to use Numerous images, taxa and characters Iris pseudacorus

9 Interactive identification keys Multi-access Dynamic and efficient Easy and fun to use Numerous images, taxa and characters Allow for character misinterpretation

10 New Zealand plant interactive keys Lucid TM software Industry leading software Developed in Australia 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 Links to other resources Factsheets, Plant Names Database, NZPCN, NZNOG, WeedBusters Free due to public-good funding TFBIS (Terrestrial & Freshwater Biodiversity Information System) Programme

11 New Zealand plant interactive keys Lucid keys (Java versions, not apps): Australasian liverwort and hornwort genera Cultivated pines (Scion) Grasses Weeds Coprosma Cotoneaster Native orchids Flowering plant genera Native plants of schools and marae Biodiversity at Styx Mill Ferns & conifers of Cass Weedy daisies of the South Pacific

12 New Zealand plant interactive keys

13 New Zealand plant interactive keys Characters available Species remaining Characters chosen Species discarded The key is divided into 4 panes

14 New Zealand eflora Keys link to eflora species profiles Online and updating the traditional printed copies of the Flora of New Zealand series New and revised taxonomic treatments Factsheets Dynamic, continually updated

15 Landcare Research plant apps LucidMobile app versions of online (Java) keys TFBIS funding $70k 2 years ( ) 4( 5) keys

16 Landcare Research plant apps

17 Landcare Research plant apps NZ Weeds Key

18 May seem geeky but (some) smartphone apps are useful tools: 48% of New Zealanders now own a smartphone They are becoming their device of choice Thousands of apps available Android (Google) and ios (Apple) versions. Why apps?

19 Why apps? Apps using LucidMobile Fully portable; ideal for field work Self contained; work without cellphone connection Simple and intuitive interface Use Lucid Builder files; don t have to start from scratch Overcomes Java issues of browser versions Learning resource Character (feature) explanations Species profiles Android and ios

20 Coprosma app 53 species 500 images By David Glenny, Jane Cruickshank, Chris Morse and Jeremy Rolfe

21 Coprosma app First of our id apps 24 Dec, 2014 (Android) 15 Jan, 2015 (ios) downloads 5-star reviews

22 Coprosma app First screen is characters (features): Plant Form Expand the menu to select character states e.g., tree Tap the state for explanation and images

23 Coprosma app Species (entities) remaining screen: Tap the species for profile

24 Coprosma app Species profile screen: Written especially for app Slide show at top Tap image for full screen image gallery Text description at bottom

25 Coprosma app Good publicity: Radio NZ Facebook Newsletters

26 Coprosma app Canterbury Botanical Society Field trip, May 2015: Specifically to use the Coprosma app. 15 people Very favourable responses for field use Good success rate Found it simple to use

27 Native orchid app 123 spp. (and loads of tag-names) >1000 images By Murray Dawson, Jeremy Rolfe, Michael Pratt and others

28 Used NatureWatch NZ in developing orchid app Natural history observations Based on inaturalist Image upload (Flickr interface) Locality info Area polygons Community IDs Native orchid app Crowdsourcing

29 Native orchid app Crowdsourcing NatureWatch NZ / inat app Field observations via smartphone Smartphone camera Smartphone location data Syncs to websites Android and ios Perfect as a field data logger

30 Native orchid app Crowdsourcing NatureWatch NZ project: Created Dec 2012 Pre-publicity of app and announcements User base 80 members >900 observations Testing key (Java) Distribution records Images from trusted sources Direct permission Creative Commons

31 Native orchid app Crowdsourcing Interconnected resources NZNOG

32 Native orchid app Crowdsourcing NZNOG species profiles: Adapted for app Distribution maps Pitched at wide audience Co-authors

33 Native orchid app Crowdsourcing Images that would take a lifetime to assemble from throughout New Zealand

34 NZ Flowering Genera New Zealand s flowering plants Wild (native and naturalised) Casual (reproducing in gardens or known wild from few records) 1075 genera >9000 images By David Glenny, Trevor James, Jane Cruickshank, Murray Dawson, Kerry Ford & Ilse Breitwieser

35 NZ Flowering Genera Largest key Orchids and Grasses only at family level Specialised character sets They have their own dedicated keys Very useful if you have no idea of the plant that you are trying to identify!

36 NZ Weeds app >750 species NPPA DoC consolidated weeds list RPMS Common weeds >9000 images By Murray Dawson, Sheldon Navie, Trevor James, Peter Heenan, Paul Champion etc.

37 NZ Weeds app Follows architecture of Environmental Weeds of Australia key

38 Citizen Science Smartphones and apps as ID tools Leafsnap US-based Shape recognition

39 Citizen Science Smartphones and apps as ID tools Flora Finder Similar, but NZ-based Shape recognition

40 Summary New id tools unlock the power of technical floras Simple to use Fully portable Time consuming to build Future funding uncertain

41 Summary New id tools unlock the power of technical floras Simple to use Fully portable Time consuming to build Future funding uncertain Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science is a two-way street Mutually beneficial Connects users/public with providers/institutions Sharing: don t be too precious with your images and data! Many additional eyes for weed monitoring and biosecurity incursions

42 There is a huge range of new resources Free User friendly Worth learning: Old dogs can learn new tricks! Summary

43 Summary There is a huge range of new resources Free User friendly Worth learning: Old dogs can learn new tricks! Important to choose those which will best suit your needs I had my own blog for a while, but I decided to go back to just pointless, incessant barking.