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2 results on '"Max, Simeon"'

1. Review and assessment of smartphone apps for forest restoration monitoring.

Author

Schweizer, Daniella, Cole, Rebecca J., Werden, Leland K., Cedeño, Gerald Quirós, Rodriguez, David, Navarro, Kassandra, Esquivel, Jose Marcel, Max, Simeon, Chiriboga, Fidel E., Zahawi, Rakan A., Holl, Karen D., and Crowther, Thomas W.

Subjects
FOREST restoration, FOREST monitoring, MOBILE apps, GROUND cover plants, DATA entry
Abstract

With increased interest in forest restoration comes an urgent need to provide accurate, scalable, and cost‐effective monitoring tools. The ubiquity of smartphones has led to a surge in monitoring apps. We reviewed and assessed monitoring apps found through web searches and conversations with practitioners. We identified 42 apps that (1) automatically monitor indicators or (2) facilitate data entry. We selected the five most promising from the first category, based on their relevance, availability, stability, and user support. We compared them to traditional field techniques in a well‐studied restoration project in Costa Rica. We received further feedback from 15 collaborator organizations that evaluated these in their corresponding field restoration sites. Diameter measurements correlated well with traditional tape‐based measurements (R2 = 0.86–0.89). Canopy openness and ground cover showed weaker correlations to densiometer and quadrat cover measurements (R2 = 0.42–0.51). Apps did not improve labor efficiency but do preclude the purchase of specialized field equipment. The apps reviewed here need further development and validation to support monitoring adequately, especially in the tropics. Estimates of development and maintenance costs, as well as statistics on user uptake, are required for cost‐effective development. We recommend a coordinated effort to develop dedicated restoration monitoring apps that can speed up and standardize the collection of indicators and provide evidence on restoration outcomes alongside a centralized repository of this information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2024
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2. Searching for the Optimal Sampling Solution: Variation in Invertebrate Communities, Sample Condition and DNA Quality

Author

Gossner, Martin M., Struwe, Jan-Frederic, Sturm, Sarah, Max, Simeon, McCutcheon, Michelle, Weisser, Wolfgang W., and Zytynska, Sharon E.

Subjects
Ecological Metrics, Arthropoda, Beeches, lcsh:Medicine, Plant Science, Forests, Biochemistry, Ecosystems, Sampling Studies, Trees, Glycols, Ethylene, Beetles, Animals, DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic, Plant Hormones, lcsh:Science, Arthropods, Ecology, Sulfates, Organic Compounds, Plant Biochemistry, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Organic Chemistry, lcsh:R, Chemical Compounds, Organisms, Biology and Life Sciences, Species Diversity, Biodiversity, DNA, Plants, Terrestrial Environments, Invertebrates, Hormones, Insects, Chemistry, Physical Sciences, Salts, lcsh:Q, Spruces, Research Article
Abstract

There is a great demand for standardising biodiversity assessments in order to allow optimal comparison across research groups. For invertebrates, pitfall or flight-interception traps are commonly used, but sampling solution differs widely between studies, which could influence the communities collected and affect sample processing (morphological or genetic). We assessed arthropod communities with flight-interception traps using three commonly used sampling solutions across two forest types and two vertical strata. We first considered the effect of sampling solution and its interaction with forest type, vertical stratum, and position of sampling jar at the trap on sample condition and community composition. We found that samples collected in copper sulphate were more mouldy and fragmented relative to other solutions which might impair morphological identification, but condition depended on forest type, trap type and the position of the jar. Community composition, based on order-level identification, did not differ across sampling solutions and only varied with forest type and vertical stratum. Species richness and species-level community composition, however, differed greatly among sampling solutions. Renner solution was highly attractant for beetles and repellent for true bugs. Secondly, we tested whether sampling solution affects subsequent molecular analyses and found that DNA barcoding success was species-specific. Samples from copper sulphate produced the fewest successful DNA sequences for genetic identification, and since DNA yield or quality was not particularly reduced in these samples additional interactions between the solution and DNA must also be occurring. Our results show that the choice of sampling solution should be an important consideration in biodiversity studies. Due to the potential bias towards or against certain species by Ethanol-containing sampling solution we suggest ethylene glycol as a suitable sampling solution when genetic analysis tools are to be used and copper sulphate when focusing on morphological species identification and facing financial restrictions in biodiversity studies.

Published
2016

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