How the Amount of Green Area and Human Population Density Relates to Poison Ivy Observation Density in NYC

Kaitlyn Duran, Jordy Gross, Isljam Purisic, Samuel Wolnerman

We asked how the amount of green area and human population density affect Poison Ivy observation density throughout the different districts of NYC.
We study this because Poison Ivy is abundant throughout the country, and can serve as a good representation of how vines and shrubs are affected by geographical changes due to human interaction with the environment. We also care about Poison Ivy specifically because Poison Ivy can be dangerous and it would be helpful for the public to be more aware of where Poison Ivy is likely to be located.
We collected data on green area, human population density, as well as iNaturalist observer density from each New York City district and plotted each of them against Poison Ivy observation density to see if there is a correlation between them. We also examined whether there is a correlation between green acreage and human population density.
Our results were that there was no significant correlation between Poison Ivy and any of the other factors, though there was a strong negative correlation between green area and human population density. The lack of correlation can perhaps be attributed to the fact that the amount of Poison Ivy observations on iNaturalist is not necessarily a good indicator of the actual Poison Ivy concentration. Since no strong correlation with Poison Ivy is found in our study, we cannot definitively say how much impact human population density and green acreage have on Poison Ivy density within the districts of New York City. The technology used had a significant impact on our results due to the fact that iNaturalist relies heavily on how many observers are in each area, and whether or not they want to share observations of Poison Ivy.
Areas of further study include examination of how Poison Ivy interacts with other environmental factors. For instance, animals such as birds that disperse its seeds can be studied to see how Poison Ivy growth can be affected by the presence of these birds.