New id tools: Lucid keys, apps and other resources

Murray Dawson Landcare Research Lincoln, New Zealand

Outline • Interactive keys

NZ flora • Coprosma • flowering plant genera • orchids • weeds • grasses etc.

• Mobile app development Smartphones and tablets Android and iOS

• Free tools

Citizen science solutions

Allan Herbarium Plant Biosystematics Group

New Zealand flora series • Authoritative – ‘Botanists Bibles’ • Comprehensive • Technical • Detailed descriptions • Dichotomous ID keys • 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

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.

Lolium description (top) Part of a traditional key (bottom)

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

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

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 in 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

• 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

Lucid keys (Java versions, not apps):

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

• 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 www.nzflora.info

New Zealand eflora

Landcare Research plant apps LucidMobile app versions of online (Java) keys • TFBIS funding $70k 2 years (2014–2015)

• 4(–5) keys

Landcare Research plant apps

Landcare Research plant apps

NZ Weeds Key

• 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?

• 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

Why apps?

• 53 species • 500 images • By David Glenny, Jane Cruickshank, Chris Morse and Jeremy Rolfe

Coprosma app

• First of our id apps • 24 Dec, 2014

(Android) • 15 Jan, 2015 (iOS) • 100-500 downloads • 5-star reviews

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

Coprosma app

Species (entities) remaining screen: • Tap the species for profile

Coprosma app

Species profile screen: • Written especially for app • Slide show at top • Tap image for full screen

image gallery • Text description at bottom

Coprosma app

Good publicity: • Radio NZ • Facebook • Newsletters

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

Coprosma app

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

others

• Used NatureWatch NZ in developing orchid app

• Natural history observations http://naturewatch.org.nz/ – Based on iNaturalist – Image upload (Flickr interface) – Locality info – Area polygons – Community IDs

‘Crowdsourcing’ Native orchid app

• 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

‘Crowdsourcing’ Native orchid app

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

‘Crowdsourcing’ Native orchid app

‘Crowdsourcing’ Native orchid app

Interconnected resources – NZNOG

‘Crowdsourcing’ NZNOG species profiles: • Adapted for app • Distribution maps • Pitched at wide audience • Co-authors

Native orchid app

‘Crowdsourcing’ Native orchid app

Images that would take a lifetime to assemble from throughout New Zealand

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

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!

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.

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

Citizen Science Smartphones and apps as ID tools

• Leafsnap – US-based – Shape recognition – http://leafsnap.com

Citizen Science Smartphones and apps as ID tools

• Flora Finder – Similar, but NZ-based – Shape recognition –www.otago.ac.nz/botany/florafinder/

Summary

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

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

Summary

• There is a huge range of new resources – Free – User friendly – Worth learning:

“Old dogs can learn new tricks”!

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.”