Objects like weather stations, cameras etc. use technology called remote sensing. This technology has revolutionized human lives all around. Scientists have found a way to use them to capture continuous datasets even in tough terrain.
As this data is flooding into labs, scientists are finding it difficult to properly understand it due to lack of sophisticated analytical tools. In a recent research by Dr. Greice Mariano which was presented in an issue of the Application in Plant Research, a tool called as Radial Pheno was introduced. This tool can help scientists to analyze the leafing patterns in plants with the help of the remote camera data.
Dr Mariano said that phenological observations are tough to attain require a lot of skills, precision and labor, and their accuracy completely relies on the skill of the person performing the observation.
He also added that the data is stored in form of spreadsheets which makes it unable to allow interoperability, which makes the whole analysis process even tougher.
In order to understand the needs of phenologists, Dr Mariano along with her team collaborated with a research team from the Sao Paolo State University. They ran an analysis of the current software in use and tried to understand what improvements are needed. After a thorough research, the Radial Pheno was made. This tool provides radial representation of the data in order to make it easier to analyze and understand.
As a test run, this tool was used to test leafing patterns in Brazilian cerrado, which is a vast savanna, by deploying the remote camera for near surface monitoring. Dr. Mariano said that they also had data from the ground which allowed them to verify the accuracy of the results.
As the climate is changing rapidly, accurate phenological data is needed now more than ever as climate changes are influencing the ecological timings significantly which can have a real bad effect. Thanks to phenological data, scientists can find more about it and maybe act for its betterment.