The Dead Tree Detective
Citizen Science to Monitor Tree Health
www.tinyurl.com/deadtreedetective
deadtreedetective@westernsydney.edu.au

Have you seen dead or dying trees in your area? Go to the “Surveys” section and choose “Add a record”. You can then upload photos of your trees and answer a few questions to help identify the possible causes. You’ll find some information about each of these causes in the “Resources” section. Here are some photos from B Medlyn.

How tough are Australian trees?
We tend to think of Australian trees as being pretty tough – well-adapted to drought and high temperatures. Research shows, however, that most tree species have a
fairly tight ”safety margin”. That is, their adaptations enable them to survive typical droughts in their native environments, but more extreme droughts are likely to tip
them over the edge. In Australia, widespread tree death has followed intense drought in some places such as river redgums along the Murray, and jarrah forests in WA.

Records needed
For most other forests around Australia, we don’t know what levels of drought they can survive. During the Millennium Drought, there are very few records of trees dying from drought – but is that because few trees died, or because no-one made records? We do know that many of the trees around Cooma died in the years following the Millennium Drought, but scientists are uncertain of the cause because no-one knows when the trees started to die.

How you can help
Taking photos of dead and dying trees to record where and when trees die in your area will help scientists trying to work out the level of drought that different species can
tolerate. You can send in photos via the website or by email. Trees can die for a lot of reasons besides drought, so the survey asks a few questions to help work out the
likely cause of your trees’ death. You might also like to check up on the trees over time to see if they recover.

What will happen to the data?
The data will be stored in the Atlas of Living Australia main database. The records will be freely available, so that everybody will be able to track tree death in their area.
Scientists will combine these data with weather data to work out the severity of drought likely to cause tree death in different areas. Results using the data will be published
on the Dead Tree Detective blog, in scientific publications and in the media.

Week 4: Native Animal of the Blue Mountains crossword is here now. Most of the animals can be found in Blue Mountains Animals by Margaret Baker and Robin Corringham.

Instructions

CLICK on the link below and follow the instructions to either fill in online or print a hard copy.

Week 4: Native Animals of the Blue Mountains Crossword Puzzle

To FILL IN ONLINE

1. CLICK on the clue listed under Across or Down – and this will highlight the corresponding boxes (purple) to fill in on the crossword.
2. To TYPE in the answer CLICK on the purple highlighted box in the crossword and start typing your answer (a correct answer turns the boxes green). If your answer was incorrect then use the backspace to delete then try again for this answer only!!
3. To RESET ANSWERS (all answers) scroll down the screen‚  below the crossword and CLICK Reset Answer (red button)

To PRINT a Hardcopy scroll down the screen below the crossword and CLICK Print My Puzzle (purple button)

Answers to Week 3 Native Birds of the Blue Mountains Crossword Puzzle

Additional information available at: https://weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/Weeds/PartheniumWeed

Are you wanting to participate in Citizen Science projects to collect information so scientists, ecologists, citizen scientists and natural resource managers can manage their ecological, biodiversity and natural resource management data. Becoming part of these projects may be sorting though data, viewing photos, or physically going in the field to collect data or monitor programs.

Here are a few citizen science projects

Citizen Science for Bushfire Recovery and Resilience

Find over twenty citizen science projects focused on Bushfire Recovery and Resilience in the Biocollect – Atlas of Living Australia www.ala.org.au

Saving our Species (SoS) is a movement involving volunteers, scientists, businesses, community groups and the NSW Government, all coming together to secure the future of Australia’s unique plants and animals.

Without our passionate volunteers and citizen scientists, many of the projects the SoS team works on wouldn’t be possible. While social distancing measures mean our traditional volunteering projects aren’t possible right now, we’ve rounded up some projects you can do from the comfort of your own home.

From reviewing and tagging images of koalas to wildlife spotting in your own backyard, with a little bit of creativity, conservation in the time of COVID-19 can be made possible.

Conservation from your couch: 5 ways to help animals from home
Whether you’re an armchair detective or looking to inspiring a new generation of ecologists, here are some productive ways to use your time in isolation.

Coming soon: SoS Citizen Science Hub
Our new Citizen Science Hub will launch in May, becoming your go-to for Citizen Science projects, people and data in NSW. Keep an eye on the hub to discover your next opportunity to meaningfully contribute to SoS.