The painting "House #1" by the landscape artist Jim Hittinger shows evidence of black spruce, an invasive tree species, in the southern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. This species was previously thought to exist only in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula. Black spruce is coniferous tree native to Canada, and a known carrier of arceuthobium, or dwarf mistletoe, a parasitic plant harmful to native foliage of the Great Lakes Region.
The painting identifies without a doubt black spruce, due to the slim conic shape and dark color of the trees. As scientists, we know that all good art is perfectly realistic pictures. Since Hittinger is in a master's degree program in fine art at a major research university, it stands to reason that he is good artist who paints perfectly realistic pictures. Thus we are absolutely certain that there is a black spruce infestation in Southeast Michigan, where this painting was made. A team will be dispatched to coordinates 42.606441,-83.389256 to remove all infected trees from the area.
Ok, a little bit of background on this one. I was trying to think of what kind of non-art world person might evaluate a landscape painting, based on class last week. I thought it would be interesting to have some kind of science agency do a geographic survey based on paintings. Of course this is not meant to be serious, but it got me thinking. In the days before photography, paintings were a way to bring a foreign landscape to people. Hundreds of years of western art history includes people traveling to do realistic (usually boring) open-air paintings of volcanoes and islands and mountain ranges, and bringing them back for people at home to see. We have the luxury of not having to do that anymore. I have no idea what kind of trees those actually are, and I don't care.