Sentinel Treescapes for Plant Biosecurity and Risk Management - Multiple Threats

树木在维持生命、提供野生动物栖息地和木材、储存碳、帮助减少气候变化方面发挥着至关重要的作用。树木覆盖面积约占英国土地面积的17%，但英国各地的树木，无论是林地还是城市或农业环境（“树木逃生”），目前都面临着一系列病虫害的威胁，其中许多病虫害最终导致树木死亡，或者由于悬挂的枯枝或树木倒下的风险增加而造成安全隐患。例如，2012年抵达英国的白蜡树枯死病可能导致英国90%的白蜡树死亡，而白蜡树是目前最常见的阔叶树种之一。该项目将与负责管理树木或确保公共安全的主要合作伙伴合作，包括环境，食品和农村事务部（Defra），网络铁路和诺福克郡议会，开发一个监测系统，该系统最终可以在英国各地建立，在可能提供病虫害传播早期预警的地方（如港口附近或公路和铁路沿线），或对保护很重要。文化原因或公共安全，提供树木健康变化的“哨兵”系统。该监测系统将部署在英国诺福克，它将结合附着在景观中单个树木上的传感器的观测结果（测量树冠的状况、水的运动、树木的生长和树干的运动，作为树木倒塌风险的一个指标），以及由志愿“公民科学家”网络（包括现任树木委员会树木管理员）对树木健康状况的视觉观察。从无人机和卫星上的相机获得的图像将用于在更广泛的区域扩大观测范围，并将使用建模方法将来自这些不同来源的数据结合起来，以估计树木的健康状况并检测变化。将开发一个基于网络的界面，向志愿者和合作伙伴提供来自传感器和模型的可访问和易于解释的信息，并将通过讲习班探讨志愿者使用该技术的经验。还将开发模型，以探索不同传感器网络设计的效率和成本效益，并确定传感器和观测的理想组合和分布，以便将来用于监测更大的地区和更多的地点。将利用与合作伙伴和其他感兴趣的利益攸关方（例如林业代表或保护组织）举行的讲习班，审查可以交流传感器技术和模型输出的最佳方式，以及这些数据在决策过程中可以发挥的作用。该示范网络代表了树木健康评估和监测的数字环境，将为未来在整个英国的部署提供蓝图，从而提高对病虫害传播的了解，并更好地管理树木。

Trees play an essential role in sustaining life, providing wildlife habitats and timber and storing carbon, helping to reduce climate change. Tree cover accounts for around 17% of the land area of Great Britain, but trees across the UK landscape, in both woodlands and urban or agricultural environments (the 'treescape'), are currently at risk due to a range of pests and diseases, many of which result in eventual tree death or cause safety hazards due to dead hanging branches or increased risk of tree fall. For example, ash dieback, a disease which arrived in the UK in 2012, could lead to the loss of 90% of the UK's ash trees, currently one of the most common broadleaf species. This project will work with key partners with responsibility for managing trees or ensuring public safety, including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Network Rail and Norfolk County Council, to develop a monitoring system, which can ultimately be established across the UK treescape, in locations likely to provide an early warning of pest and disease spread (such as near ports or along roads and railways), or of importance for conservation, cultural reasons or public safety, to provide a 'sentinel' system of changes in the health of trees. The monitoring system, to be deployed in Norfolk, UK, will combine observations from sensors attached to individual trees in the landscape (measuring the condition of the tree canopy, movement of water, tree growth and the motion of the trunk as an indicator of risk of tree fall) with visual observations of tree health made by networks of voluntary 'citizen scientists', including current Tree Council Tree Wardens. Images obtained from cameras on drones and satellites will be used to expand the observations across a wider area and modelling methods will be used to combine the data from these different sources to estimate tree health and detect changes. A web-based interface will be developed to provide both volunteers and partners with accessible and easily interpreted information from sensors and models, and the experiences of volunteers of working with the technology will be explored through workshops. Models will also be developed to explore the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of different designs of sensor networks and to identify the ideal combinations of and distribution of sensors and observations for future use in monitoring larger areas and more locations. Workshops with partners and other interested stakeholders (e.g. forestry industry representatives or conservation organisations) will be used to examine the best ways in which sensor technology and model outputs can be communicated and the role such data can play in the decision-making processes. The demonstration network, representing a digital environment for tree health assessment and monitoring, will provide a blueprint for future deployment throughout the UK, leading to improved understanding of the spread of pests and diseases and better management of trees.