Javier Ballesteros took us out on BCI to screen trees for pathogens. He is doing a project on fungal tree pathogens. He uses sonar to check for holes or less solid tissue in the tree and then uses a machine to measure electrical connectivity. Here are some pictures to illustrate.
The tree is measured at 1 meter, and then 12 tacks are added to the tree
The tree is measured at 1 meter, and then 12 tacks are added to the tree
This tool sends a message to the computer about how far apart each tack is.
The computer then makes this image of the perimeter of the tree.
These nodes are put on the tacks in order to measure the waves from the sonar.
We tapped each node, one at a time.
After that the computer creates a color map of the dense and less dense parts of the tree. Then we measured the electrical connectivity, which is a measure of water uptake. It is important to measure both sonar and electrical connectivity because sometimes dense wood can be dead.
- Jennifer
