2023 > 07
The SITES 2023 Calendar theme is “Data in Focus”. The openly available data produced within SITES and stored on the SITES Data Portal is the “golden thread” of the infrastructure, allowing users access to ecosystem data that covers diverse habitats and climate zones across geographical gradients in Sweden. Each month follow along as we highlight a unique SITES dataset.
SITES has three Thematic Programs that strengthen the collaboration within the network of stations in remote sensing, water monitoring and aquatic mesocosms. The Thematic Programs facilitate comparison between climate zones, landscape elements and management systems and offer open data from long-term monitoring and experimental installations.
This month the SITES Spectral Thematic Program is featured, an infrastructure for collecting spectral data for ecosystem measurements over terrestrial environments to a varying extends at all SITES stations. SITES Spectral data covers small to local scales by using fixed multispectral sensors mounted on masts or towers, phenologycal cameras and multispectral sensors mounted on Umanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). UAV drones are flown over targeted areas at the SITES stations at least once per year during the peak of the active growing season. The UVAs are equipped with a multispectral sensor, a red-green-blue (RGB) camera and a thermal camera. Together, the equipment on the UAVs capture images in the visible and near-infrared wavelength. After the UAV flights are completed, spectral data are processed centrally by the SITES Spectral Thematic Program, resulting in data products, including orthomosaics, digital elevation models and point clouds over the UAV flight path. Data products from SITES Spectral are openly available for download on the SITES Data Portal.
The image below is from the SITES Spectral data products at Lönnstorp station.
The image shows an examples of processed UAV data from a flight over agricultural fields at Lönnstorp in 2020. The data products include a RGB orthomosaic (left), a false color composite of multispectral orthomosaic (center), and a radiometrically calibrated vegetation index (right).
The joint AquaNet and AQUACOSM-plus experiments at SITES Asa and Svartberget have been running for about a month now (details about the project start are reported here). Preliminarily results from the experiments (graph below) show the difference in specific conductivity (a proxy for salinity) across the three different treatments; 1) Control, where no salt is added, 2) Gradual, where small amounts of salt are added in increments over time and 3) Extreme, where a large amount of salt is added once at the start of the experiment. Data from automatic in situ sensors in each mesocosm and manual samples throughout the experiment will be assessed to see how different salinity disturbance regimes impact the function and composition of biological communities.
The participants at the two stations have been busy maintaining and sampling the mesocosm experiments, learning from and collaborating with participants from different countries, while at the same time enjoy the Swedish summer.
Asa AquaNet team (Photo: Jana Isanta-Navarro )
At Asa, the core team is comprised of Guangbin Gao (Sweden), Andrra Zhjeqi (Sweden), Judit Rodrigo (Spain), with Pablo Urrutia Cordero (Spain), Jana Isanta-Navarro (Sweden), Jing Li (Sweden) and Pepe Rodriguez (Canada) also participating in the experiment for several weeks. Niels Aagaard Jakobsen (Research Engineer at Asa Station) led setting-up the mesocosm infrastructure at the station, while Silke Langenheder (SITES AquaNet Lead) and Wilhelm Lönnqvist (Asa Station Manager) supported the experiment set-up and preparations.
When asked about his experience at Asa station so far, Guangbin Gao stated, “I am very lucky and pleased to participate in the AquaNet experiment at Asa. It is a complete system of ecological experiments. Here, through the application of high-frequency sensors and daily sampling, I learned how to build and operate the mesocosm facility. Of course, there is a great opportunity to communicate and collaborate with researchers from different countries.”
Svartberget AquaNet team (Photo: Mary Mullins)
At Svartbergt, the core team is comprised of Erin Ford (Canada), Mary Mullins (USA) and Anusha Singh (Czech Republic), with support at the start of the experiment from Aidan Guttormson (Canada) and Shelley Arnott (Canada). In addition, SITES AquaNet staff (Ingrid Sassenhagen, William Colom Montero) and Svartberget Station staff (Johan Westin, Johannes Tiwari and Viktor Boström) helped with the set-up and preparation for the experiment at the station.
On behalf of the team at Svartberget, Mary Mullins, summarized the experience, “Here at the Svartberget station in Vindeln, we have been busy honing our field and lab skills in limnology! From collecting plankton samples to analyzing the water chemistry of the mesocosms, we are determined to discover the impacts of salinity on this unique ecosystem. Living at the station surrounded by nature has been just as wonderful as exploring the nearby towns and making friends during Midsummer Celebration.”
With only a few weeks left in the experiment, there are only a few salt additions and samplings left, and then it is time to clean and store the AquaNet mesocosms for future experiments. Once the teams are back at their home institutions and have had time to recover, it is on to the analysis and results. So stay tuned!
Wildlife cameras have received a lot of attention in the last decade, and many research projects and practical applications using camera traps are now running. Cameras are surrounded by high hopes that these methods will make various wildlife surveys more effective, for example, since they may replace some time consuming field work. A scientifically proper use of camera trap data may, however, be tricky, and the topic constitutes a research field in itself. Studied issues may, for example, concern which sampling design (distribution of cameras, set up at each plot etc.) to apply and which picture statistics are actually relevant for a given research question.
A plot with the two cameras; the heights differ but settings and angels etc., are the same (Photo: Gunnar Jansson).
Some of these questions are now studied at Grimsö in a joint SITES and FoMA project. The project uses data from the SITES camera survey (32 cameras in a regular grid in the research area) in combination with another type of camera set up at the same plot. The study focuses on the importance of camera position and will try to quantify the differences (number of photos, which species appear, etc.) resulting from varying set ups. The camera trap data will also be used to evaluate an artificial intelligence software for automatic species recognition in pictures via comparisons to interpretations made by experienced wildlife ecologists. The automatic process is usually fast, but its precision is still being discussed.
SITES offers good possibilities for various method evaluation studies as well as for projects searching for biological data, since numerous datasets are freely available. For onsite studies or experiments at Grimsö, via SITES, external projects may also receive support with fieldwork, checking equipment, etc.
The SITES 2023 Calendar theme is “Data in Focus”. The openly available data produced within SITES and stored on the SITES Data Portal is the “golden thread” of the infrastructure, allowing users access to ecosystem data that covers diverse habitats and climate zones across geographical gradients in Sweden. Each month follow along as we highlight a unique SITES dataset.
Bolmen Research Station, is an associated station to SITES AquaNet – an associated station benefits from SITES coordinated activities, in this case SITES AquaNet, and has access to SITES network and knowledge and the ability to mobilize and openly share station data via the SITES Data Portal. Bolmen Research Station is located in Tiraholm, by Lake Bolmen in Hylte municipality. The research at the station primarily focuses on environmental monitoring, fish conservation and management, water conservation and the effects of climate change on freshwater ecosystems.
Bolmen has participated in several SITES AquaNet experiments, including the first pilot experiment in 2017. This month, data from the 2017 AquaNet pilot experiment at Bolmen is featured. The experiment investigated the interactive effects of bottom-up (a reduction in light availability) and top-down (fish predation) disturbances on the stability of plankton community composition (bacterio-, phyto- and zoo-plankton) and ecosystem functioning. The experiments consisted of a fourfold replication of a full-factorial design with no disturbance (control), light reduction as a press disturbance (constant), fish predation as a pulse disturbance (temporary) and press and pulse disturbances combined. Each mesocosm enclosure was equipped with sensors and data logging system to measure in real-time environmental parameters, such as dissolved oxygen, temperature, photosynthetic active radiation, Chlorophyll a (as seen below), phycocyanin and turbidity.
Link to Data: https://meta.fieldsites.se/objects/fFHR9J_5xa-Bm2bxm0gz1J2E
The results from the 2017 experiments at all SITES AquaNet stations are available as a data collection on the SITES Data Portal and published in Urrutia-Cordero et al. 2021.
The graph shows sub-hourly Chlorophyll a data, from the mesocosm experiment run in 2017 at Lake Bolmen, aggregated for the four treatments applied to the experiment (Control, Light, Fish, Light & Fish). As evident in the graph, Chlorophyll a concentration fluctuated over time with differences in responses between the four treatments. The photo displays the AquaNet platform and mesocosm enclosures on Lake Bolmen, where each mesocosm is equipped with sensors, all connected to a central data logging system.
2023 > 07
The SITES 2023 Calendar theme is “Data in Focus”. The openly available data produced within SITES and stored on the SITES Data Portal is the “golden thread” of the infrastructure, allowing users access to ecosystem data that covers diverse habitats and climate zones across geographical gradients in Sweden. Each month follow along as we highlight a unique SITES dataset.
SITES has three Thematic Programs that strengthen the collaboration within the network of stations in remote sensing, water monitoring and aquatic mesocosms. The Thematic Programs facilitate comparison between climate zones, landscape elements and management systems and offer open data from long-term monitoring and experimental installations.
This month the SITES Spectral Thematic Program is featured, an infrastructure for collecting spectral data for ecosystem measurements over terrestrial environments to a varying extends at all SITES stations. SITES Spectral data covers small to local scales by using fixed multispectral sensors mounted on masts or towers, phenologycal cameras and multispectral sensors mounted on Umanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). UAV drones are flown over targeted areas at the SITES stations at least once per year during the peak of the active growing season. The UVAs are equipped with a multispectral sensor, a red-green-blue (RGB) camera and a thermal camera. Together, the equipment on the UAVs capture images in the visible and near-infrared wavelength. After the UAV flights are completed, spectral data are processed centrally by the SITES Spectral Thematic Program, resulting in data products, including orthomosaics, digital elevation models and point clouds over the UAV flight path. Data products from SITES Spectral are openly available for download on the SITES Data Portal.
The image below is from the SITES Spectral data products at Lönnstorp station.
The image shows an examples of processed UAV data from a flight over agricultural fields at Lönnstorp in 2020. The data products include a RGB orthomosaic (left), a false color composite of multispectral orthomosaic (center), and a radiometrically calibrated vegetation index (right).
The joint AquaNet and AQUACOSM-plus experiments at SITES Asa and Svartberget have been running for about a month now (details about the project start are reported here). Preliminarily results from the experiments (graph below) show the difference in specific conductivity (a proxy for salinity) across the three different treatments; 1) Control, where no salt is added, 2) Gradual, where small amounts of salt are added in increments over time and 3) Extreme, where a large amount of salt is added once at the start of the experiment. Data from automatic in situ sensors in each mesocosm and manual samples throughout the experiment will be assessed to see how different salinity disturbance regimes impact the function and composition of biological communities.
The participants at the two stations have been busy maintaining and sampling the mesocosm experiments, learning from and collaborating with participants from different countries, while at the same time enjoy the Swedish summer.
Asa AquaNet team (Photo: Jana Isanta-Navarro )
At Asa, the core team is comprised of Guangbin Gao (Sweden), Andrra Zhjeqi (Sweden), Judit Rodrigo (Spain), with Pablo Urrutia Cordero (Spain), Jana Isanta-Navarro (Sweden), Jing Li (Sweden) and Pepe Rodriguez (Canada) also participating in the experiment for several weeks. Niels Aagaard Jakobsen (Research Engineer at Asa Station) led setting-up the mesocosm infrastructure at the station, while Silke Langenheder (SITES AquaNet Lead) and Wilhelm Lönnqvist (Asa Station Manager) supported the experiment set-up and preparations.
When asked about his experience at Asa station so far, Guangbin Gao stated, “I am very lucky and pleased to participate in the AquaNet experiment at Asa. It is a complete system of ecological experiments. Here, through the application of high-frequency sensors and daily sampling, I learned how to build and operate the mesocosm facility. Of course, there is a great opportunity to communicate and collaborate with researchers from different countries.”
Svartberget AquaNet team (Photo: Mary Mullins)
At Svartbergt, the core team is comprised of Erin Ford (Canada), Mary Mullins (USA) and Anusha Singh (Czech Republic), with support at the start of the experiment from Aidan Guttormson (Canada) and Shelley Arnott (Canada). In addition, SITES AquaNet staff (Ingrid Sassenhagen, William Colom Montero) and Svartberget Station staff (Johan Westin, Johannes Tiwari and Viktor Boström) helped with the set-up and preparation for the experiment at the station.
On behalf of the team at Svartberget, Mary Mullins, summarized the experience, “Here at the Svartberget station in Vindeln, we have been busy honing our field and lab skills in limnology! From collecting plankton samples to analyzing the water chemistry of the mesocosms, we are determined to discover the impacts of salinity on this unique ecosystem. Living at the station surrounded by nature has been just as wonderful as exploring the nearby towns and making friends during Midsummer Celebration.”
With only a few weeks left in the experiment, there are only a few salt additions and samplings left, and then it is time to clean and store the AquaNet mesocosms for future experiments. Once the teams are back at their home institutions and have had time to recover, it is on to the analysis and results. So stay tuned!
Wildlife cameras have received a lot of attention in the last decade, and many research projects and practical applications using camera traps are now running. Cameras are surrounded by high hopes that these methods will make various wildlife surveys more effective, for example, since they may replace some time consuming field work. A scientifically proper use of camera trap data may, however, be tricky, and the topic constitutes a research field in itself. Studied issues may, for example, concern which sampling design (distribution of cameras, set up at each plot etc.) to apply and which picture statistics are actually relevant for a given research question.
A plot with the two cameras; the heights differ but settings and angels etc., are the same (Photo: Gunnar Jansson).
Some of these questions are now studied at Grimsö in a joint SITES and FoMA project. The project uses data from the SITES camera survey (32 cameras in a regular grid in the research area) in combination with another type of camera set up at the same plot. The study focuses on the importance of camera position and will try to quantify the differences (number of photos, which species appear, etc.) resulting from varying set ups. The camera trap data will also be used to evaluate an artificial intelligence software for automatic species recognition in pictures via comparisons to interpretations made by experienced wildlife ecologists. The automatic process is usually fast, but its precision is still being discussed.
SITES offers good possibilities for various method evaluation studies as well as for projects searching for biological data, since numerous datasets are freely available. For onsite studies or experiments at Grimsö, via SITES, external projects may also receive support with fieldwork, checking equipment, etc.
The SITES 2023 Calendar theme is “Data in Focus”. The openly available data produced within SITES and stored on the SITES Data Portal is the “golden thread” of the infrastructure, allowing users access to ecosystem data that covers diverse habitats and climate zones across geographical gradients in Sweden. Each month follow along as we highlight a unique SITES dataset.
Bolmen Research Station, is an associated station to SITES AquaNet – an associated station benefits from SITES coordinated activities, in this case SITES AquaNet, and has access to SITES network and knowledge and the ability to mobilize and openly share station data via the SITES Data Portal. Bolmen Research Station is located in Tiraholm, by Lake Bolmen in Hylte municipality. The research at the station primarily focuses on environmental monitoring, fish conservation and management, water conservation and the effects of climate change on freshwater ecosystems.
Bolmen has participated in several SITES AquaNet experiments, including the first pilot experiment in 2017. This month, data from the 2017 AquaNet pilot experiment at Bolmen is featured. The experiment investigated the interactive effects of bottom-up (a reduction in light availability) and top-down (fish predation) disturbances on the stability of plankton community composition (bacterio-, phyto- and zoo-plankton) and ecosystem functioning. The experiments consisted of a fourfold replication of a full-factorial design with no disturbance (control), light reduction as a press disturbance (constant), fish predation as a pulse disturbance (temporary) and press and pulse disturbances combined. Each mesocosm enclosure was equipped with sensors and data logging system to measure in real-time environmental parameters, such as dissolved oxygen, temperature, photosynthetic active radiation, Chlorophyll a (as seen below), phycocyanin and turbidity.
Link to Data: https://meta.fieldsites.se/objects/fFHR9J_5xa-Bm2bxm0gz1J2E
The results from the 2017 experiments at all SITES AquaNet stations are available as a data collection on the SITES Data Portal and published in Urrutia-Cordero et al. 2021.
The graph shows sub-hourly Chlorophyll a data, from the mesocosm experiment run in 2017 at Lake Bolmen, aggregated for the four treatments applied to the experiment (Control, Light, Fish, Light & Fish). As evident in the graph, Chlorophyll a concentration fluctuated over time with differences in responses between the four treatments. The photo displays the AquaNet platform and mesocosm enclosures on Lake Bolmen, where each mesocosm is equipped with sensors, all connected to a central data logging system.
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