Class Projects

Jennifer Piarowski, Project List, 2/6/2012

• From leafsnap.com "Leafsnap is the first in a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves.
• iPhone app for animal track identification: MyNature Animal Tracks
• iPhone app for bird identification: iBird
• Oh yeah, and there are a slew of other identification apps from the National Audobon Society based on species type and region

I think that this idea is now dead in the water. :( BUT.....

I still like the idea of species taxonomy and phylogenetics...

• searching the internet doesn't seem to pull up any programs designed to teach taxonomy or phylogenetics
• this is a project I will begin thinking about more, thought it doesn't seem as useful as my original idea

• I think it would be very useful to create an interactive online dichotomous key for all species worldwide
• I looked into this a bit and it doesn't seem like there is anything like this available. In fact, it seems there aren't many, if any?, interactive dichotomous keys online at all.
• I think that a prompt on the home page should ask you to pinpoint the country of your species, then get more and more local to where the mystery species was seen. This would enable a more regional dichotomous key online thread.
• I think the next logical step would be a prompt to identify whether the specimen is a plant, animal or insect, or unknown.
• At this point, the dichotomous key would give the person searching for the specimen a choice between two choices (like a dichotomous key) and allow the user to enable pictures that would further help clarify the description (i.e. pictures of blade types of a grass)