Meeting the Giants in Our Midst: Developing an Interactive Online Arboretum Guide to Promote Ecological Literacy

Abstract

Trees are the largest organisms students usually encounter in their daily lives. However, most are unaware of the critical roles trees play in their local environments. As critical components of green infrastructure, trees improve air quality, mitigate storm-water runoff, and provide food and habitat for other organisms. Using the cross-platform and open-source software Bioimages Collection Manager (BCM), we created an online interactive arboretum guide for a university campus arboretum. Faculty, students, and visitors can scan tree tags with their mobile devices and access biological metadata, participate in self-guided tree tours, and learn about the ecology and ethnobotany of individual tree species. Importantly, this approach may be replicated for other campuses, school yards, and additional green spaces.