Projects
The UM-Flint Herbarium is home to over 4,000 specimens, some of which are over 100 years old! Over the past two years, the Tonietto Lab has mapped out a process to digitize the collection, starting with updates to decades-outdated taxonomy using Specify 7, an online SQL database system in part developed by the University of Michigan. IDEAS research assistant Autumn Harris is improving digitization workflow enabling the automatic importing of metadata pulled from herbarium labels.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection monitors several water quality metrics at many of their Aquatic Preserves and other sites of interest. During the Winter 2023 semester, IDEAS students Aaron Moore and Abby Hause ran data analysis on several such metrics (levels of ammonia, nitrogen, chlorophyll, etc.) to visualize the health of the Matlacha Pass and surrounding areas.
The Flint River Watershed Coalition oversees various Flint River water quality monitoring activities, including one which tracks benthic macroinvertebrate populations at sites across the watershed. Starting in Summer 2023, IDEAS students will begin visualization and tracking analytics to help diagnose areas needing further study.