Leafsnap and Plantsnap - Easy tools for the Ecology classroom!

As an environmental science teacher and science department lead teacher, the first digital field guide for use in species identification that I heard about, used, and promoted is: 

Leafsnap is a mobile application that helps users identify tree species by snapping pictures of leaves and flowers. It is currently a digital field guide for trees in the Northeastern United States and Canada, but it is growing to include trees from the entire continental U.S. and the U.K. It is a project by researchers from Columbia University, University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution (http://leafsnap.com/about/).

Leafsnap is free and very easy to use. The features in the menu at the bottom of the main screen include Games, Browse, Collection, Options, and Snap It. The Snap It option takes the user to a screen, which has very easy to follow instructions right on the screen.

The app accesses the smartphone's camera and a picture is sent into thei database. It only takes a few moments to have several options pop up for what species they leaf may be from. With each suggestion possibility, there is a high-resolution photo with a scale built-in. This is so that the user can look more closely at the different photos to determine which is the most like the sample they have and therefore which species they have.

As I used Leafsnap this week for this review, I found that very few of the leaves I selected from my yard were recognized by the app. It turns out I was choosing plants, not trees, and also species that are not native to the northeastern U.S. or Canada. This was frustrating at first, but as I looked into the scope of the app I realized that it was my fault for choosing the wrong type of species.

One cool feature of leafsnap is that it "turns users into citizen scientists, automatically sharing images, species identifications, and geo-coded stamps of species locations with a community of scientists who will use the stream of data to map and monitor the ebb and flow of flora" (http://leafsnap.com/about/). This app is a really great option for use with students in identifying trees.

However, since it turned out that I seemed to be interested in the plants around my neighborhood in addition to the trees, I searched around the app store and found:

Plantsnap is a digital field guide that helps users identify plants based on images of their leaves and flowers. It was created by Eric Ralls, who is the CEO of RedOrbit.com and Earth.com and "has long aspired to merge technology with a love for nature and our planet" (https://www.plantsnap.com/who-we-are/). It has 585,000 species in its databases and over a million images. 

I found Plantsnap to be as easy to use as Leafsnap, with many of the same features. The starting page shows a menu that includes the options My Collection, Explore, Snap!, Search and More... The Explore feature appears to be more functional with the paid version of the app, because it will show the location of other members' finds. The free version Explore feature does show a limited amount of locations, for which I cannot tell why they are highlighted except that they each seem to house a lot of plants (ie: Green Spring Gardens or The American University Arboretum).

One cool feature of Plantsnap is that it has an Auto Detection feature in the snapping function that prompts the user when to snap the picture for best results. This saves a bit of time because it can be hard to get an image that is recognized by either of the apps on the first try. Another cool feature is the Augmented Reality option, which superimposes graphics over top the image the camera picks up. The app prompts the user to look for flowers and leaves through their camera and to click on any bubbles that pop up. When clicked, the bubbles turn into little molecules of carbon dioxide and oxygen floating in and out of the leaves. This is a great feature for students!

Both of these digital tools are awesome ways to bring ecology to life for my students. I am excited to let them get in touch with the nature right around them as they become familiar with the individual species they come across.

The WSS - a fantastic resource for Environmental Science students

The Web Soil Survey is a project put on by the USDA in order to help people understand and promote the sustainable use of the soils around them. The product of the project is an interactive web resource that allows anyone to select an area of interest and look into the soil data that is available for that region. I chose to highlight a region that encompasses Great Falls Park, VA but goes outside the boundaries slightly. It is possible to import a shapefile of the park boundary with a few simple steps using ArcGIS or a similar GIS program.

Here is the link to my Great Falls Park 'Area of Interest'. It was really easy to create with the AOI polygon tool.

Area of Interest - Virginia's Great Falls Park (with a little overlap) (Photo credit: C. Pollack 2019)

Area of Interest in blue from zoomed out view of DC Metro area. (Photo credit: C. Pollack 2019)

Then the magic happened when I selected Soil Map!

(Photo credit: C. Pollack 2019)

 The Area of Interest (AOI) I created was divided into many smaller sections according to soil properties. Then when I clicked over to the Soil Data Explorer, I could filter the map according to any number of data features that are stored in the WSS. For example, here is a look at my AOI with the regions identified according to suitability for paths and trails. There is a description that tells about the criteria for the coloring, as well as a legend for the colors, both of which can be toggled on and off.

Here is a look at the AOI based on susceptibility for soil erosion. The blue portions of the area are made up of soils that are more susceptible to sheet and rill erosion from water.

Finally, here is a look at the suitability for roads in the AOI. The red areas have soils that are not conducive to constructing and sustaining roads. The description points out that the color ratings are based on slope, rock fragments at the surface, plasticity index, and water table level among other things.

Within the Soil Data Explore tab there are other tabs to explore and I found the Soil Properties and Qualities to be perfect for the soil science we investigate in my IB Environmental Systems class.

This screenshot shows a close up of the AOI according the the percent clay, and based on the menu on the left, you can see that many other textures and property features of soil are searchable.

The final feature of the WSS that I want to mention (although there are many others!) as so valuable to my needs as a high school environmental science teacher is the ability to create reports so easily. 

This screenshot shows a report of the Chemical Soil Properties of the AOI.

 This is a figurative goldmine of data for students to use as practice for processing, analyzing, drawing meaningful conclusions, and determining significance in correlation.

Climate Resources

NOAA NATIONAL CENTERS
FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION 

STATE CLIMATE SUMMARIEs

VIRGINIA

This resource blows me away!  The level of accessibility of the information is impressive, and the fact that science organizations (governmental and non) are able to provide such specific and organized data makes me happy. Anyway, this resource is from the NOAA NCEI - which is tasked with providing all sorts of environmental data to the public. It has Key Message pointed out at the beginning that are specific to Virginia's Climate, followed by a descriptive narrative of it, and finally a range of data specific to Virginia's climate available for easy download

https://www.virginia.org/climate/

This source is a general look at Virginia climate, including breakdowns by region. The average low/high temperatures and precipitation amounts are posted by region and the basics of how the physical geography affects the climate in our area is discussed.



http://www.virginiaplaces.org/climate/

This resource is a more technical and specific look at the climate history of Virginia. The publisher of the site attributes well the information posted, so those sources can be checked for further, possibly more reliably-sourced,  information.


There are many more relevant sources about the climate of VA including some about GFP specifically.

Washington Post Article about Potomac river flow at GFP
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/06/05/the-potomac-at-great-falls-explodes-at-flood-stage-i-have-never-seen-the-river-appear-so-violent/?utm_term=.b3d1d900476d
RIVER at a GLANCE feature - https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/glance.php?wfo=lwx&gage=gflv2&riverid=206834
https://www.weather.gov/marfc/DailyPrecipitation
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/soil-water-conservation/you-your-land-climate
https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/virginia/united-states/3216
http://www.climate.virginia.edu/description.htm
https://traveltips.usatoday.com/can-climate-virginia-described-102713.html
https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/index.php?zip=22046&q=find_zone&submit=Go+%3E
https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/natural-communities/document/ncoverviewphys-veg.pdf



GFP vegetation resources -
https://vnps.org/conservation/virginia-native-plant-registry-sites-3/great-falls-park/
https://www.nps.gov/grfa/planyourvisit/upload/Potomac%20Gorge%20brochure%20B.pdf

Maps of GFP

I have learned a lot in a short time navigating Google MyMaps. It is very user-friendly including the ability to import KML files, but I could not find an available KML file of the entire GWMP area to import. Below is my map of Great Falls Park, Great Falls VA. There is a distinction between the Maryland vs. the Virginia side and when describing just the National Park segment, I think it important to highlight that the park is only in VA. GFP (MyMaps)

I also created an ArcGIS online map of the system of parks of which Great Falls Park in VA is a part of. Some of the area that is highlighted is in the care of the George Washington Memorial Parkway system and some is in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.  GFP (ArcGIS)

Additionally, I have included the link to the NPS map of Great Falls Park. Note that the VA side of Great Falls Park is bordered in a dark color. The rest of the grey region is considered part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway of the C & O Canal Park system, but is not tended to in the same way as GFP.  GFP (NPS)

Finally, linked here are a digital copy of the brochure distributed by the National Park Service at the Visitor's Center,  Great Falls Park - NPS Brochure, a Trail Map of the park, and a Geological map of the Potomac River Gorge from USGS.

Note - I really would like to know if it is possible to embed the interactive maps I created into this Blogger platform.

Ecology Slides

Defining Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the term used to describe the variety of biota in a given region (from very large to microscopic). There are 3 main subsets of biodiversity that can serve as indicators of the state of ecosystems - species diversity, habitat diversity, and genetic diversity.  Some even refer to a fourth type of biodiversity called functional biodiversity, which involves the behaviors of organisms in an ecosystem. Species diversity is measured according to an ecosystem’s richness, which is how many different forms of life are present, and its evenness, which is the degree to which the numbers of the different populations are similar. Biodiversity has both functional and intrinsic value in ecosystems, as it is directly correlated with the stability of ecosystems and weaves such a delicate complexity that it warrants appreciation of its aesthetic.

Biodiversity Study Area

I decided on Great Falls Park for my study area primarily because of its proximity to the school in which I teach Earth Science. It will be good for me to be informed of the formations and processes that occur(red) in this national park, as well as the biodiversity that exists with any identified concerns, in order to provide for students real-world connection, and project-based learning opportunities with field trip potential. I like to point out to my students the links between geography/earth science and human society, which is very evident in the history of Great Falls. I also am choosing Great Falls Park because of personal relevance, having grown up in the town of Great Falls, VA. I have visited the park countless times and investigated the geology of the gorge before.

Teaching IRL

I am an Earth and Environmental Science teacher to grades 9-12 and I am always looking for ways to impress upon my students the magnitude and complexity of Earth processes. I often refer to our science as macro-science. Macro in the sense that we generally study our content from the systems perspective, where we examine all the interrelated parts and the role they play in the function of the whole. But also Macro in the sense that we do not necessarily need micro-scopes and models to observe the concepts we study. Unlike Chemistry, Biology, and Physics, Earth and Environmental science does not involve too many abstract topics like atomic structure, or the addition/subtraction of forces. Instead Earth and Environmental Science involves the stuff of our everyday observations and experiences - landscapes, seascapes, the air we breathe, and the ecosystems of which we are a part. In studying Earth and Environmental Science we connect experience with the spheres that make up the entire Earth system, and it can be powerful to ponder the (seemingly) simpler things in life.

In the classroom, we try to come up with learning activities that are based in real-world situations. In teaching geology, freshwater systems, and biodiversity & conservation, it would be very helpful to know all about Great Falls Park in order to connect this amazing local resource to our content. My goal is to learn about the park, create student activities based on the park, and hopefully facilitate a culminating field trip to the park.

Why GFP?

Great Falls Park is a small U.S. National Park located on the southern banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, VA. It is 800 acres of woodland and riparian ecosystems, characterized by steep, rocky river sides, with trails and overlooks maintained for the pleasure and safety of visitors. The falls for which the park is named, are created by a drop in elevation of the Potomac of more than 75 feet in less than a mile (NPS, 2015).

The purpose of this blog is to help me and others become more familiar with the biodiversity, geologic and social history, and other fascinating features of Great Falls Park, in order to promote stewardship of this local gem and National Park. I was born and raised in the town of Great Falls, VA and frequently visited the park with family and friends for hikes, runs, picnics, and taking in the scenery. It was not until I was a teenager that I realized that it is a National Park, which carries with it significance. It is steeped in geologic history, as well as Native and Colonial American history, and while it changes day by day according to the ebb and flow of the complex freshwater system of which it is a part, it remains the same striking example of the expanse that is Earth's history, the power of nature, and the intersection of environment and human society.