Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Monday 6 august 2018

The Green Big Apple: New Yorkers document the city's plants

By EMILIANO RODRIGUEZ gist at Earthwatch Institute
MEGA in Boston who isn't part of
Associated Press the project. "If we can get
NEW YORK (AP) — Susan them to start recording the
Hewitt found a special prize (biodiversity) in their back-
recently while wandering yards, they can really make
the streets of New York. a huge contribution."
The 70-year-old spotted a Citizen scientists in the Eco-
mysterious patch of bright Flora effort have docu-
green leaves with tiny white mented at least six plants
flowers in a raised flower never recorded before in
bed. It turned out to be New York state and two
tropical Mexican clover, new plants for North Amer-
a weed common in South ica. The observations al-
America and Florida's or- ready are helping prepare
ange groves, but never re- for future threats. In July,
corded before in the state. the project challenged its
"I get a tremendous kick volunteers to locate ev-
out of identifying things," ery tree of heaven in the
she said. "There's nothing city. These rapidly growing
more exciting." trees with pale gray bark
Hewitt volunteers for an and a stinky smell are the
ambitious project to pho- preferred host of an Asian
tograph all the wild plants moth that can harm crops
that dwell in New York City. and forests. Mapping the
On Friday, the organizers host plant will allow re-
announced that citizen searchers know where to
scientists had catalogued look for the insect once it
more than 26,000 sightings, shows up.
and documented new "It hasn't been found in
populations of invasive New York (state) yet. But it'll
species and native weeds come," said botanist Daniel
that seem to be disappear- Atha. "For sure, it'll come."
ing, like the green comet Volunteers have their own
milkweed. reasons for participating.
Started last year by scien- In this July 26, 2018 photo, Daniel Atha holds specimen of swamp rose he collected in 2014, when Zihao Wang, 29, used to
tists at the New York Bo- working to document all Central Park's naturally occurring plants in New York. look for plants on his own,
tanical Garden, the effort Associated Press exploring the green patch-
makes up for the lack of es he found on Google
manpower to survey the The project so far has at- ment building in Manhat- thy discoveries around the Maps. Now, he's one of
entire city. tracted 730 volunteers tan's Upper East Side. She world. And a 2017 study the most active members
"There are just not enough armed with smartphones fires up her iPhone X every found that more than half with 538 species identified
of us," said Regina Alvarez, who've hit the streets for time she spots something the material in the Global so far. When he's not hunt-
a professor at Dominican the quest, called New York new or interesting. A fragile Biodiversity Information ing for plants as a hobby,
College in New York who City EcoFlora. tree seedling sticking out of Facility —an open-access he works for the city's parks
isn't part of the effort. "What Hewitt, a self-described a manhole cover? Click. database with information department.
we're studying requires a lot naturalist who grew up near A white petunia hidden about all types of life on "I want to see a version of
of data and it's really hard the English village where among weeds? Click. Earth— comes from volun- New York City that's differ-
for the number of scientists Charles Darwin lived, made Botanist Brian Boom, who teers. ent from everybody else's,"
that are out there to do all her discovery last month in heads the project, said "Many citizens are experts Wang said. "I'm always sur-
that work." front of a massive apart- the scientific community in their own way," said Mark prised by how much nature
wasn't really thinking about Chandler, a field biolo- still exists here."q
the need to engage with
regular folks when he was
a graduate student in the
early 1980s.
"There was a sense of, 'This
is what we do. And you
can go out and look at the
birds and that's great. But,
you know, we'll do the sci-
ence,'" he said.
Not anymore. Scientists
have become increasingly
aware of how citizens can
contribute to their research.
Digital platforms like iNatu-
In this July 27, 2018 photo, Susan Hewitt photographs a daisy- ralist, a mobile app where
like weed known as 'shaggy soldier' and adds it to iNaturalist, citizens share their observa- In this July 26, 2018 photo, Daniel Atha, left, and Brian Boom,
the app she uses to participate in the New York City EcoFlora tions of plants and animals, right, look at two New York Botanical Garden specimens of a
project. estimate that people have hardy plant called Italian arum in New York.
Associated Press Associated Press
made dozens of notewor-