The Lilly ARBOR Project is a floodplain forest restoration experiment along the White River in downtown Indianapolis. It has produced effective methods to restore river margins and improve water quality in central Indiana.
Over the past five years, environmental research scientists from the Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis Center for Earth and Environmental Science have worked with community partners, university students, and K-12 students and teachers to transform the Lilly ARBOR Project site from mown turf grass into a thriving wildflower, shrub, and sapling forest that is teeming with life.
With an emphasis on community-based research, the ARBOR project has been a test bed for utilizing new sensor technologies for remote environmental monitoring systems.
Learning about complex ecosystems
The ARBOR restoration site includes one bridge-mounted and four well-deployed YSI multi-parameter sondes along a one-mile stretch of the White River and the Western edge of the IUPUI Campus.
The system utilizes NexSens data loggers with radio telemetry for hourly data retrieval, uploading it to WQData LIVE web datacenter . The ARBOR site is part of an extensive network of wetlands, rivers, and lakes; this network was developed by CEES for the exploration of advanced monitoring technologies to better understand water quality and water resource management while learning about complex ecosystems.
The network includes 28 field-deployed sondes, seven with real-time transmission capabilities, and two weather stations throughout central Indiana.
The NexSens X2 Environmental Data Logger offers the latest in real-time monitoring technology with wireless communication, large plug-and-play sensor library, and ultra-low power consumption.
The YSI EXO3 is a purpose-built sonde for monitoring major water quality parameters, including: pH, conductivity, temperature, turbidity and dissolved oxygen.
WQData LIVE is a web-based project management service that allows users 24/7 instant access to data collected from remote telemetry systems.