Tree Health
Project Summary
The Tree Health project revolves around the importance of trees and their relationship with the environment. Trees provide nutrients and shelter to a plethora of organisms, from the bacteria on their roots to the birds on their branches. Trees also require very specific nutrients and conditions themselves in order to stay healthy.
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to investigate the relationship between tree health, soil quality and lichen growth. You can replicate this project and/or contribute to our research by following the procedure located below and adding your findings to the Epicollect project ‘Tree Health’.
Background Research
Trees require very specific nutrients and conditions in order to stay healthy. They need good soil and air quality. There are certain indicators, like lichen and open leaf stomata, that show whether the tree has good soil and air quality.
Soil
-Soil pollution negatively impacts lichen growth, photosynthesis efficiency and soil quality.
-Evidence of soil pollution includes leaf discoloration, brittle tree limbs and poor tree performance.
-Soil polluters include lead include, mercury, zinc, copper, nickel, PAHS, insecticides.
Lichen
- Lichen need water. Lichens, light, air, certain nutrients, and a substrate to grow on trees on and survive.
- Lichen receive water from rain, fog, and can even absorb water vapor from the air.
- Lichens need clean, fresh air to survive and can absorb nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon from the air.
Leaf Stomata
- Plants close their stomata in response to their environment; in a drought, plants might close their stomata to limit the amount of water that evaporates from their leaves.
- Some plants limit water loss by closing their stomata when conditions aren’t good. When the humidity is low, water is more likely to evaporate quickly from the leaf surface, and plants often close their stomata to maintain a stable water balance in the leaf.
Related Projects
The “Linkin Lichen” project is lichen monitoring project that helps you find different kinds of species of lichen on different trees. You can do this by taking lichen samples from trees and analyzing them under a microscope to find differences in the lichen and start monitoring what type of trees have which kinds of lichen.
Project Website: https://blog.nature.org/science/2015/05/12/citizen-science-likin-lichens-monitoring-project-tardigrades-air-quality/
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