Honors student works on Elodea floatplane project with ISER's Schwoerer and Engineering's Witmer

ISER researcher Dr. Tobias Schwoerer and UAA Engineering Computer Science Professor Dr. Frank Witmer are working with UAA Honors student Devin Boyle to get a better understanding of how Elodea, an invasive freshwater plant in Alaska, is being spread across Alaska by floatplanes. Funded with an Honors College grant and support from Rust's Flying Service, the project involves investigating the feasibility of using images captured by cameras installed on floatplanes as part of a "big data" citizen science project.

The project builds on Dr. Schwoerer's previous bioeconomic analysis of Elodea, which has been found so far in a dozen or so lakes in Alaska. The analysis shows that if allowed to spread, Elodea could cost Alaska's commercial sockeye fisheries and floatplane pilots nearly $100 million a year on average. Damages are projected to increase as long as no clean up of existing infestations occurs.

As part of his Honors project, Devin Boyle installed GoPro cameras on one of Rust Flying Service's airplanes and collected images of Elodea gathered on the plane's rudders. The images will be used to develop an algorithm to detect and measure Elodea entanglement through computer automation. The researchers hope to use the project as a proof of concept study that will allow them to expand their research to a statewide citizen science project with floatplane pilots that would result in a much larger statewide data collection effort.

The project is part of UAA researchers' ongoing efforts to improve detection capabilities for Elodea and aid in management decisions.

Head to the ISER website to see a test video showing collection of Elodea.

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