{"id":23618,"date":"2012-08-10T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2012-08-10T19:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=23618"},"modified":"2012-08-10T12:00:46","modified_gmt":"2012-08-10T19:00:46","slug":"tapping-crowds-to-track-californias-weeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/08\/10\/tapping-crowds-to-track-californias-weeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Tapping Crowds to Track California’s Weeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Help map the spread of invasive plants with a smartphone app
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Artichoke thistle flower in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. Citizens with smartphones can help in a statewide weed-mapping initiative.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you have a sharp eye for invasive plants \u2013 and a smartphone \u2013 you can help a Bay Area non-profit in its effort to document the distribution and spread of invasive plants across California.<\/p>\n

The Berkeley-based California Invasive Plant Council, or Cal-IPC, has found that weeds cost the state at least $82 million annually<\/a> in terms of increased erosion and flooding, degraded agricultural land and reduced water supplies.<\/p>\n

California is hardly alone. A 2005 study by researchers from Cornell University put the nationwide cost of battling invasive weeds at a staggering $120 billion<\/a> [PDF].<\/p>\n

Climate change is making the issue even more complex, says Doug Johnson, Cal-IPC\u2019s executive director, who is trying to better understand how non-native plants may respond and how they may gain advantage over native plants during prolonged bouts of warming or cooling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not as simple as saying climate change is going to make everything worse in terms of invasives,\u201d Johnson told me. \u201cBut in general, invasive species are generalists and are able to outcompete native plants. They also tend to thrive on disturbance, so a change in conditions that may impact other species more harshly may end up favoring invasives.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to keep track of California\u2019s weeds, and, more importantly, where they\u2019re spreading, Cal-IPC has worked with state and local experts to evaluate a list of invasive and noxious plants<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went through those plants, looking through all the quadrangles of various counties or regions and decided how generally abundant they are, whether they are spreading and if they are under management,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n

With the data compiled, the group built an interactive, public site called CalWeedMapper<\/a>, which uses a mosaic of 7.5-minute quadrangle tiles (covering an area of roughly six by eight miles). Though the map\u2019s resolution is still very \u201ccoarse,\u201d according to Johnson, the group has begun to harness the collective power of thousands of smartphone-wielding amateur botanists. Mountain bikers in Mendocino, say, or hikers in the Alabama Hills on the east slopes of Mount Whitney can take note of invasive plants and upload their locations to CalWeedMapper by way of a smartphone app called Observer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The site is tied in with two other large databases operated by the Consortium of California Herbaria<\/a> and Calflora<\/a>, which, Johnson says, enhance the precision and reach of the group\u2019s citizen mapping effort.<\/p>\n

The effort comes at an opportune time, particularly with so many fires burning across the state and the West. Cal-IPC is particularly concerned with so-called \u201cfire followers,\u201d invasive plants such as cheatgrass, star thistle, knapweed and scotch broom that tend to expand their range as fires scour the land.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith climate change, one of our main areas of concern is the Sierra. As temperatures warm, invasive species may be able to move up in elevation,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cThere are also rangeland species from Plains states, which are often brought in [inadvertently] on heavy equipment and can take off in areas cleared by fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you are interested in helping Cal-IPC in its weed-plotting effort \u2013 and in downloading the Observer smartphone app \u2013 you must first register with CalFlora<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Help map the spread of invasive plants with a smartphone app<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6335,"featured_media":23747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[106,300],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-23618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-getinvolved","tag-citizen-science","tag-invasive-species"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nTapping Crowds to Track California's Weeds | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/08\/10\/tapping-crowds-to-track-californias-weeds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tapping Crowds to Track California's Weeds | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Help map the spread of invasive plants with a smartphone app\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/08\/10\/tapping-crowds-to-track-californias-weeds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-10T19:00:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2012\/08\/IMG_3818-300x3001.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"259\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"263\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeremy Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeremy Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/08\/10\/tapping-crowds-to-track-californias-weeds\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/08\/10\/tapping-crowds-to-track-californias-weeds\/\",\"name\":\"Tapping Crowds to Track California's Weeds | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-10T19:00:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-10T19:00:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/2fed2851017653e1f9980ef01b04c7f2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/08\/10\/tapping-crowds-to-track-californias-weeds\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/08\/10\/tapping-crowds-to-track-californias-weeds\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/08\/10\/tapping-crowds-to-track-californias-weeds\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tapping Crowds to Track California’s Weeds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/2fed2851017653e1f9980ef01b04c7f2\",\"name\":\"Jeremy Miller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/c74c38da68c83e99993ef2f930b718f5\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae9335c733d61d951a3117585e1b64ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae9335c733d61d951a3117585e1b64ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeremy Miller\"},\"description\":\"Jeremy Miller is a contributing editor for High Country News, and his stories have appeared in numerous publications including Harper's, Orion, Men's Journal, Earth Island Journal, The Boston Globe and The San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine. 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