#dendrometer

[botanyone]

Open-Source Dendrometers for Real-Time Plant Water Monitoring

Scientists have long sought new ways to continuously monitor how changing water availability affects plants. Traditional methods of measuring water potential, a key indicator of plant water stress, require invasive sampling that damages tissue. Now researchers have developed entirely open-source instruments capable of tracking plant water status with unprecedented high frequency and…

[wolfliving]

Internet of forest things

(...)

Wallrabe and her fellow researchers are working on a range of devices that will be deployed from the ground to the treetops, transmitting data from Germany’s Black Forest to their labs at the University of Freiburg. At the same time, scientists and engineers at other companies are also focused on making their devices unobtrusive and, ultimately, self-sustaining.

Silvanet Wildfire Sensor

Time is of the essence when fighting forest fires. Sensors attached to trunks “smell” tell-tale gases like hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and alert firefighters within the first hour—before satellites or cameras can spot open flames. German startup Dryad Networks has built AI into its solar-powered sensors to ensure that they can distinguish between real fires and, say, passing diesel trucks.

Treevia

Digital dendrometers relieve foresters of tedious work. As trees grow, the elastic band wrapped around their trunk stretches and transmits data directly to a computer. The lightweight device from Brazilian startup Treevia can even be attached to saplings. It also contains a humidity and heat sensor, providing insights into climatic impacts on reforested areas.

The Guardian

What does it take to catch illegal loggers or poachers? A smartphone is a good start. Rainforest Connection’s recycled, solar-powered smartphone listens for the sound of chain saws or gunshots within a 1-mile radius. The recordings are transmitted to the cloud for analysis and alert local authorities in near real time. This device also provides insights into the distribution and calling behavior of animals.

BiodivX Drone

As animals move through trees, they shed DNA through feces, skin, and hair. This innovative drone collects what is known as environmental DNA (eDNA) from leaves and branches—with particles sticking to its adhesive strips. Scientists from Switzerland programmed the drone so it can navigate autonomously through dense forests and hover steadily around branches to take samples.

Leaf Sensor

Wallrabe and her team at the University of Freiburg have developed a glass capsule that measures gas exchange between a leaf and its surroundings. It can detect specific chemicals that trees emit under stress, for example, in the event of a drought, infestation, or disease. The capsule is transparent so that sunlight can reach the leaf without impairing its function.

Plant-e

When sunlight is limited, most devices are powered by batteries. Plant-e, a Dutch company spun out of Wageningen University, makes use of a natural process: Plants produce organic material through photosynthesis; some they use for growth, the rest ends up into the soil. Bacteria break down this material and release electrons that Plant-e uses to power its sensors....

[gcecology]

Progress ...

Working on better statistical models has highlighted for me how much we need better and more data. Towards that end the lab has been working with new micro-dendrometers for some of our sapling experiments. And thanks to the excellent team in the lab -- composed of biologists, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and computer scientists --- we're updating them now to be more stable. Go team, you guys are amazing!

[temporalecology]

On Saturday Sept. 16th Jordan from Oregon State University visited the lab to see our magnetic dendrometers in action and troubleshoot some that are not working. Beside some useful tips we got a class in soldering and got most of our issues solved! Thanks Jordan! Jordan also showed us a 3D print of the new model that looks very promising as it is much more resistant to disturbances.

[paragoninstrumentation]

Explore the Dendrometer Criterion RD 1000, the first electronic basal area factor scope designed for forestry applications. Measure tree stem or limb diameters and determine heights at specific diameters. Laser Technology's RD 1000 offers flexibility with adjustable measurement lines, eliminating the need to be at a set distance from a tree. Enhance your forestry work with a tool designed for accuracy and ease of use.

[dendrometer]

A stop motion grilled cheese I shot once for a work thing. Had to make a custom rig for it, then toasted it with a heat gun hehe 🙃

[rjzimmerman]

We learn about a new technology that is in use today to study trees. It’s a “precision dendrometer,” described in the extract below. The author does a fascinating thing with his reading of the measurements produced by the dendrometer, and the things that are happening around us as we sit under or look at a tree......such as a rain storm. Finally, I can tie together that with which I’m familiar, a tree in a rainstorm, with something that teaches scientists about that tree during that rainstorm. Nice to be able to see integration of science and humanity, in an essay.

Equipped with a tiny spring, a transducer—which converts, or “transduces,” physical motion into an electrical signal—can rest on the bark of a tree, sensing and logging tiny changes in pressure. Instruments that use this approach, known as precision dendrometers, allow scientists to do something entirely new: watch how trees change and respond to their environments on an instantaneous scale.

The article also tells us how this new tool is important in relating trees and climate change, and quantify how they are our friends.

More excerpt from this New Yorker story:

One morning earlier this summer, the sun rose over Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Lake. It was 5:28 a.m., and a black-crowned night heron hunched into its pale-gray wings. Three minutes later, the trunk of a nearby London plane tree expanded, growing in circumference by five-eighths of a millimetre. Not long afterward, a fish splashed in the lake, and the tree shrunk by a quarter of a millimetre. Two bullfrogs erupted in baritone harmony; the tree expanded. The Earth turned imperceptibly, the sky took on a violet hue, and a soft rain fell. Then the rain stopped, and the sun emerged to touch the uppermost canopy of the tree. Its trunk contracted by a millimetre. Then it rested, neither expanding or contracting, content, it seemed, to be an amphitheatre for the birds.

“I wonder about the trees,” Robert Frost wrote. Monumental in size, alive but inert, they inhabit a different temporality than ours. Some species’ life spans can be measured in human generations. We wake to find that a tree’s leaves have turned, or register, come spring, its sturdier trunk. But such changes are always perceived after the fact. We’ll never see them unfold, with our own eyes, in human time.

Trees, it turns out, grow mostly at night. In May, after weeks of cool spring weather, the temperature in Brooklyn spiked above eighty degrees. Logging into the EcoSensor Network, I could see that, within a few days, the cells of the London plane tree in Prospect Park had begun to divide. Every night, the wood and bark of the cambium—the cellular tissue between a tree’s bark and wood—enlarged until the sun came up. Then, during the day, as the temperature increased, the tree went through small micron-level contractions—shrinkage caused by tension in its molecules as they pulled water up from the roots and delivered it to the leaves. In the sunlight, the pores of the leaves would open, letting the water out and the carbon dioxide in—a whole tree, from roots to branches, breathing.

[itsmeasurex]

Phenomenal Article Gives You the Facts on Pressure Sensor Price List That Only a Few People Know Exist

On the off chance that you've worked with sensors before which are regularly used as a device for the estimation you'll have scholarly of the a large number out there. Moreover, the sensor is little in contrast with a great deal of others which are out there. It is put outside the house and transmits signs to the base gear inside the house.  

So dependably be sure you're trying the best possible sensor! The larger part of our ultrasonic sensors are made for use in level applications with extents from as few as 4 creeps to up to 50 feet. Programming our ultrasonic dimension sensors are moderately basic and is regularly done well in under thirty minutes.

When you're settling the water framework in your home, you might be enticed to get a mechanized weight framework. Remote alert frameworks are fairly progressively prominent. You may significantly find that the units can be matched by means of NFC as well. Minimal units enable it to be clear to toss one into your dry pack with a couple save batteries and the rest of your training pack, and with only a little practice you will be in a situation to go from securely concealed to flying in a minute or two. 

On the off chance that you move a quick target, you'll wish to be watchful here. Also, it has a high-temperature extend together with high exactness. You need a lengthier range ultrasonic with the goal that you may keep your heartbeat settings at a glad medium. 

There are individual scopes of smartwatches offered in the country from high range to low take amicable assortment and we've arranged the perfect wellness groups for you. The blend of electric lamps with cautions is the best decision.

The Fundamentals of Pressure Sensor Value list Revealed 

You won't discover much better costs anyplace, and you may purchase with significant serenity from dependable vendors! On the off chance that it comes to Microwave Oven value, you just won't have to discover stressed in light of the fact that the financial backing is sensibly evaluated and commendable. It's additionally essential to figure out how to foresee deals independent from anyone else in light of the fact that at exactly that point can you truly and since money is the best, you ought to know about how much income you hope to come in every individual month. 

Moderating telephone deals are as of now a danger to each brand. For calculated reasons, things in precisely the same buy will now and again be sent in individual bundles, notwithstanding when you've indicated joined conveyance. On the off chance that your request was paid and you should procure a change or drop a request, you need to get in touch with us inside 12 hours. In spite of the fact that surfacing at an expensive $400, you will see obviously better arrangements on the web in the event that you scan for one.  

New Step by Step Road outline Pressure Sensor Price List 

The most separation setting is gainful on the off chance that you overlook static or cell protests out there. Over a timeframe, in any case, it is probably going to turn sour, and will at that point should get supplanted. Following that, your time is at to a greater degree a premium and you may lean toward utilizing an online administration. 

You ought to keep up a mind the life expectancy of your camera battery. Presently you have a rundown of some of the best waterproof cameras which are out there, you can investigate a model which best suits you, and go lift one up soon. Incorporate a composed rundown of everything which you make to move. Further, in the event that you have acquired bunches of extraordinary merchandise, it would list all the above subtleties for every one among them alongside the material expenses. 

Measurex is the best provider of Pressure Transmitter that is prepared for differential, check, or inside and out weight estimation with modernized exchanges and capacitive sensor development.

[gcecology]

Video evidence that field work is great!

Mao, Britany, Christophe and Avery cored 600+ trees and installed um, err, 400 dendrometers I believe in August at Mount Rainier. This video by Avery, makes it look like a wonderful time, which is generally how I remember field work – even if in reality it is usually more a mix of exhausting and dull by the end.

[temporalecology]

Britany and I visited Mt. Rainier again at the end of September to install some leftover dendrometers and observe tree cones. Our trees are too tall for us to see any cones at the top, so we need to think of a better method to quantify individual cones...

We finally got the chance to go to Sunrise to catch the sunrise and were unexpectly surprised to encounter a mountain goat! It was a wonderful morning that truly calmed my heart. Thanks, mountain.

-Mao

[digitaladoptionmaster]

Global Dendrometers Market Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Growth, Segments, Key-Players ...

Dendrometers Market Regional Analysis Includes: ... Robotic Process Automation (RPA ) Market R & D including top key players Ipsoft, IBM, ...Read Source

[kitwallace]

Tree moisture meters

I had an interesting time last week attending the 4th Trees, People and the Built Environment (TPBE4) conference run by the Chartered Foresters.  Some interesting sessions and worthy sentiments but I didnt get any sense of urgency. 

A couple of the sessions addressed the use of technology in the urban forest.  For example Nadina Galle talked about the Internet of Nature and the application of Smart City thinking, a city-wide network of sensors using AI to make better decisions about deployment of resources.  GreenCityWatch have developed tools to create an inventory of urban trees using commercial high-resolution imagery and some open-source image analysis tools.  Treemania aims to provide a network of moisture sensors to alert council staff to the need to water newly planted trees.   

I have a love-hate relationship with these ideas.  On the one hand they too often seem like expensive, irrelevant and authoritarian structures, all bright and shiny to lure unsuspected city councils desparate to show they are doing something towards the climate emergency.  On the other hand, I’m a bit of a geek and love the idea of sensors to bring the life of trees to wider notice.   Moisture sensors also fit well with a planned platform to assist citizens to look after new trees, in particular 590 trees being planted in deprived areas of Bristol, part-funded by the Urban Tree Challenge Fund.

Treemania’s sensor seemed from the pictures to use a common capacitive moisture sensor. I thought a remote sensor could be based on a board I’ve planned to use on the boat for remote sensing of water level and battery state.  I’ve also been looking at it as a basis for a remote dendrometer. The board is an ESP32 with integrated GSM module, costing £15 or less.  GSM (2G) is expected to continue to be supported in the UK through to 2025.   Rui Santos has a great tutorial on using this board with Arduino code for just such a project.  A capacitive soil moisture sensor costs a few quid, a temperature sensor likewise.  The board has an integrated socket and charger for a 3.7v LiPo battery.  In use the sensor will only need to report at a very low frequency - maybe only a few times a day, and with the ESP deep sleep mode the device should run unattended for a month or more. Soak testing is underway.

Acquiring a suitable SIM is challenging.  Although mobile internet on a pay-monthly contract is down to £1 a Gb, minimum payment is around £10 a month. Given that only a Kb or so is used for a single  HTTP GET to transmit the data, the device needs only a few Mbs a month.  I found a couple of companies  specialising in IoT connectivity. The cheapest is ThingsMobile, based in Milan and the cost is more like £10 per annum.  Even here, the cost per Mb is 100s of times more expensive than your regular Pay monthly  sim.  It took ages to arrive but works fine and at E0.12 / Mb is pretty good.

So the bill of materials is:

TTGO T-Call ESP32 SIM800L board   

Capacitive Moisture Sensor

DS18B20 Waterproof Digital sensor

3.7v LiPo

waterproof container

Overall cost for the components should be under £40. 

Wiring is straightforward:  The moisture meter needs 3.3v power and an A2D pin  (ADC0) ; the thermometer is a one-wire interface needed a digital I/O pin (Pin25)  with a 4K7 pull-up resistor.  Rui also has a great tutorial on interfacing this sensor.  I got stuck for a while on this, not realising which GPIO pins supported I/O.  Accurate pin-out diagrams and the datasheet for the right variant of board are essential.   A small auxiliary veroboard wired directly to the ESP32 board handles these connections.  The ESP32 board is supplied with a simple aerial which worked fine.  A better quality aerial costs a few quid.

This is the current lashup

Rough sketch of wiring:  R is 4K7 

The Arduino script hard-codes the GPRS parameters, the HTTP parameters to use GET to send the data to the server and the sleep interval.  This code is on GitHub 

Periodic readings are sent to my server where they are logged and graphed and from where alerts can be generated.   A test harness only at present so nothing worth sharing yet.

Summary

The prototype is working.  The moisture sensor needs good waterproofing and seems a bit sensitive to placement.  The power draw of the GSM is quite high high during transmission.  I’m also running a WiFi version and of course its power draw is much less.    It would be nice if the Bristol LoRaWAN network was up and running but that seems to have gone very quiet. 

The main problem is with power.  This board includes a (very small) JST connector for a LiPo and a charger,  For a while it switched happily from USB power to battery and back without manual intervention.   LiPos are small and expensive however and I’m currenly experimenting with 18650 batteries which offer better storage/£ . 

References

T-Call pinout

ESP32-WROVER datasheet

TTGO T-Call on GitHub

[drweidinger]

Twittering Trees Talk Climate Change

How do trees feel? To raise awareness over climate change and discover what really makes trees tick, scientists from Ghent University’s Laboratory of Plant Ecology in Belgium have developed a network of twittering trees that allows them to monitor the plants feelings.

Since 2014, TreeWatch sensors have been installed on numerous trees across four locations in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands. By observing a tree response to factors such as radiation, temperature, humidity, air pressure, precipitation and wind, researchers are able to determine precise physiological changes in the plant, dependent on various weather conditions. The data are then translated into tweets, sharing with Twitter followers real time information about the health and internal processes of each tree.

In order to gather the required data, tree species such as maple, birch and oak are fitted with plant technologies including sap flow sensors and tree measurers known as dendrometers. Soil moisture sensors are installed near the roots and climatic data are analyzed through an instrument at close range. These internal and external environmental sensors give researchers the ability to pinpoint specific conditions that initiate sap flow and tree growth, ultimately shedding light on the underlying wellbeing of trees.

As TreeWatch technology is fitted on more and more trees across Europe, research prospects are no doubt evolving. With temperature increment and prolonged droughts, experts are eager for forestry organizations to employ technologies such as TreeWatch to ascertain the effects and potential solutions for numerous tree species.

While it can easily go unnoticed, like many forms of nature, trees are constantly interacting with their environment. Although still in its infancy, technologies such as TreeWatch have the potential to reveal the short and long-term effects of climate change induced stress on the adaptation of forests on a larger scale. Now that’s definitely something worth tweeting about!

https://www.nextnature.net/2017/09/tweeting-trees-talk/