Emerald Ash Borer Rapid Response Community Preparedness Project

Summary: The emerald ash borer Rapid Response Community Preparedness project rated researcher/volunteer agreement by training and urban forest management metrics.

emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) on ash tree (Fraxinus spp.): Steven Katovich, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood. org, CC BY 3.0, via Forestry Images

The article An Analysis of Agreement Between Volunteer- and Researcher-Collected Urban Tree Inventory Data in Arboriculture & Urban Forestry March 2018 assesses emerald ash Rapid Response Community Preparedness project data-collecting accuracy in Minnesota.

Nick Bancks and Gary Johnson, University of Minnesota-St. Paul, and Eric A. North, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, broach tree crown metrics, trunk diameters and street tree diameters. Certified arborist-recorded appraisals and professional-recorded, versus volunteer-reported, inventories respectively communicated statistically significant DBHs (diameters at breast height) under 2.54 centimeters (1 inch) and 20 percent disagreement. Researchers determined from six communities in 2009 and another eight in 2011-2012 agreement and training impacts on researcher- and volunteer-collected condition-rating, species identification and tree measurements.

Crookston, Hendricks, Hibbing, Hutchinson, Morris, Rochester, Brainerd, Bemidji, Ely, Mankato, Mora, Royalton, Saint Cloud and Starbuck within four eco-provinces exhibited research-friendly population and urban forest management.

Eighteen- to 75-year-old Master Gardeners, Master Naturalists, newspaper-recruited volunteers and Tree Care Advocates finished sample, and in Hendricks and Starbuck full, counts, identifications, measurements and ratings.

Field identification cards and training manuals grounded volunteers in community safety, crown width (CRW), DBH genus and species identification, inventory maps and Microsoft Excel data sheets. Condition-rated crown symmetry, live crown ratio, stag-heading and tip dieback and trunk-branch unions, cambium loss, decayed/exposed wood, sprouts/suckers and stem cracks had scores in quarter-point increments. Methods One and Two one-on-one field instruction included a 62-page manual versus a 25-page manual, CRW- and DBH-updated techniques and tools and two-week post-training technical assistance.

Two full growing seasons since initial surveys, volunteer attrition and wind-damaged urban forests respectively jeopardized Mora and Royalton, Crookston and Morris and Bemidji volunteer data assessments.

The emerald ash borer Rapid Response Community Preparedness project kept either same-growing season assessments summers 2011-2013 or increment borer-obtained core samples in the nine participating communities.

Emerald ash borer Rapid Response Community Preparedness project assessments listed researcher-recorded, volunteer-reported identifications as substantially agreeing more over genus (97 percent overall) than species (64 percent). Rapid Response Community Preparedness project metrics manifested 97, 86, 64, 62, 58, 51 and 8 percent genus, DBH±2.54, species, CRW±1.5, condition, DBH and CRW community-compared agreement. Emerald ash borer Rapid Response Community Preparedness project metrics netted 96, 82, 62, 51, 50, 46 and 7 percent researcher-recorded, volunteer-reported agreement for Method One trainees.

Emerald ash borer Rapid Response Community Preparedness project metrics obtained 97, 88, 69, 66, 64, 54 and 9 percent researcher-recorded, volunteer-reported agreement for Method Two trainees.

Celtis, Ginkgo, Gleditsia, Ostrya, Sorbus and Thuja presented 100 percent researcher- and volunteer-identified genus and species agreement whereas Acer and Fraxinus provided the most abundant genera.

Quercus, Malus, Tilia, Populus, Picea and Ulmus, Juglans, Gymnocladus, Maackia and Crataegus quantified 100, 97, 94, 93, 90, 82, 80, 67 and 50 percent genus agreements. Method Two trainees realized approximately 1.4, 1.7, 1.8 and 2.1 times higher researcher/volunteer agreement probabilities for DBH, DBH±2.54, condition-rating and CRW±1.5 measurements over Method One trainees. Emerald ash borer Rapid Response Community Preparedness project results suggest improper techniques, inadequate tools and temporal differences for data fatigue-driven biased, erroneous CRW and DBH measures.

Emerald ash borer Rapid Response Community Preparedness project results tender Master Gardeners, Master Naturalists and Tree Stewards as trained tacklers of troubled urban forest management programs.

The emerald ash borer Rapid Response Community Preparedness project found that maple (Acer) and ash (Fraxinus) were the most abundantly assessment genera and yielded 99 percent and 98 percent, respectively in researcher-volunteer genus-level agreement; dieback in ash tree (Fraxinus spp.) caused by damaging emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis): Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0, via Forestry Images

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to:
talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet;
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for superior on-campus and on-line resources.

Image credits:

emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) on ash tree (Fraxinus spp.): Steven Katovich, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood. org, CC BY 3.0, via Forestry Images @ https://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1398094

The emerald ash borer Rapid Response Community Preparedness project found that maple (Acer) and ash (Fraxinus) were the most abundantly assessment genera and yielded 99 percent and 98 percent, respectively in researcher-volunteer genus-level agreement; dieback in ash tree (Fraxinus spp.) caused by damaging emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis): Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0, via Forestry Images @ https://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=4213092

For further information:

Bancks, Nick; North, Eric A.; and Johnson, Gary R. March 2018. "An Analysis of Agreement Between Volunteer- and Researcher-Collected Urban Tree Inventory Data." Arboriculture & Urban Forestry, vol. 44, no. 2: 73-86.

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