Symposium
Michael Loik, Environmental Studies Department
Professor
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California, United States
Ecology has a long history of utilizing the latest technologies for making measurements on organisms and monitoring their environments. Recent advances in computing, robotics, and telecommunications have led to smaller, inexpensive sensors, Wi-Fi-enabled microcontrollers, and actuators that can perform a variety of tasks. The increasing coverage of WiFi, expansion of 5G (with 6G, 7G, and 8G soon to follow), GPS, cubesat platforms, the Internet of Things, and open-source freeware now provide ecologists with a bonanza of new ways to monitor and measure organisms and their environment. The newest kinds of hardware are generally smaller, less expensive and require less power than conventional data logging systems. These advances are poised to revolutionize sensor networks, autonomous monitoring, repetitive sampling, animal tracking, and other aspects of ecological data collection. Moreover, the components are increasingly accessible, and designed to be plug-and-play. What can these new technologies provide for ecologists? How easy is it to learn these methods, and can they be used in ecology class, lab, and field settings? In this Symposium, we describe the ways that these technologies are providing insights into ecological patterns and processes, and also consider accessibility, cost, educational opportunities, and availability of learning resources. For example, one talk will describe how a seniors-level Physiological Ecology class built a Wi-Fi-enabled sensor network using the Internet of Things to solve a greenhouse energy problem. Another will describe a low-cost solution to measuring water depth for estimating water-use of wetland ecosystems. How to best use the community of open-source electronics will be described. We also ask how best to process, store, and analyze these huge streams of data. Even with existing technologies such as eddy covariance, sap flux and stem psychrometry, reproducibly processing and analyzing time series data offers many challenges and opportunities for data-savvy ecologists. Thus, newer measurement and monitoring technologies will provide low-cost, high-resolution capabilities, but present exciting challenges for data analysis and storage. Our takeaway goals are: (1) to lower barriers to adoption, (2) to entice attendees to begin using these new technologies in ecological studies, and (3) to develop a new appreciation for the possibilities available from the newest measurement and monitoring technologies.
Presenting Author: Michael E. Loik, Environmental Studies Department – University of California, Santa Cruz
Presenting Author: Scott Jared Bradfield, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship – Colorado State University
Co-author: Troy Ocheltree – Colorado State University
Presenting Author: Sean Gleason, Water Management and Systems Research Unit – USDA-ARS
Co-author: Brendan Allen – Colorado State University
Co-author: Jared Stewart – USDA-ARS
Co-author: Stephanie Polutchko – University of Colorado Boulder
Presenting Author: Justine Smith, Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology – University of California, Davis