Environmental Monitoring Program at Trinity College Botanic Garden
Environmental Monitoring Program at Trinity College Botanic Garden
It’s been a year since Trinity College Botanic Garden laid the foundation of its first long-term (>30 years) environmental monitoring program, as part of its ten-year renovation strategy. The monitoring centres around the assessment of i) key physiological performances and ii) particulate pollution interception in some of the trees held at the garden – selected for their botanical, ecological, and cultural value – to address gaps in climate change and urban green research. The program ranges from using yearly research-level to student-gathered data, and a big part of the past year of work consisted in ensuring best practices in terms of FAIR principles and making online-available data management plans, protocols, and data. Future research developments were also taken into account with the production of vouchered herbarium specimens from the trees, to be used as a historical archive and a pedagogical tool. As the garden is getting closer to its second year of monitoring, a dedicated website section and links to tree trails on the ground are also under development, to couple the monitoring itself with community engagement on plant science and climate change.
