Citizen Science

Citizen science happens when the public takes part in the collection of data, and scientists use that data to advance scientific knowledge.  As participants, we collect data, see the results, and learn how data contributes to research efforts.  There are many projects running at any given time that you may contribute to.  Below are  several that you may consider joining, including sponsors, websites and a brief description of each.  These projects are advancing science and are fun and interesting for participants.

Journey North, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, has been engaging citizen scientists for over 25 years.  This effort tracks migrations and seasonal changes.  A variety of species are tracked including robins, orioles, earthworms, red-winged blackbirds, frogs, barn swallows, and others.  Seasonal changes  include sunlight, weather, and leaf-out.  As data is entered, it is available immediately for viewing.  Observations can be entered in text, pictures or on maps.  Site users are able to view migrations happening in real-time.  This project has simple to use screens and good online support. 

I-Pollinate, sponsored by the University of Illinois, has three separate tracking projects.  The first project identifies how monarchs and caterpillars respond to the many variables in gardens and landscapes.  A second project, that is closely related, recognizes that home gardens provide a wide variety of flowers for pollinators.  This project identifies which ornamental annuals are best at attracting  butterflies, bees and flies.  These first two projects are often done together and will require the monitor to plant an appropriate pollinator garden bed from instructions provided by the program coordinators. 

The third project in I-Pollinate is also part of the overall Bee Spotter series of projects, sponsored by the University of Illinois.  The Bee Spotter program collects data on area bee populations from citizen scientists using photography.  The I-Pollinate project is specifically centered on honey bees and bumble bees, two of our most prolific pollinator insects.  Data for all Bee Spotter programs will be used to establish population baselines and will be included in educational efforts to raise public awareness on the diversity of pollinator species and the ecosystem services they provide.  

From The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Bumble Bee Watch is another program gathering data on bees and pollination services.  This project also uses photography to build a virtual bumble bee specimen library.  Experts review each photo to verify identification and catalog all location and description data provided.  Data is used to determine population status, the bees’ ecological needs, and to identify possible locations of rare or endangered species.

Monitoring is not always about wildlife.  There are natural processes that are tracked with the goal of learning  more about habitat, the role played by each process, and the ecosystem services provided.  A few of these projects include:

• CoCoRaHS (ko-ko-razz), Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, a grassroots effort by people of all ages to measure precipitation in all its forms – rain, hail, and snow.  Simple tools and instructions can be found at the website.
• Globe At Night, an international project to measure sources of light pollution and how they affect night-sky observations.  Data is available for use by local organizations worldwide working to reduce the many impacts of artificial lighting at night.
• BudBurst tracks the timing of plant life cycle events including leaf-out, flowering, fruiting, color-change and senescence.  These are all aspects of the science of phenology, being used to study biological events related to changes in season and climate.

Take a look at these or find others by searching the internet for “citizen science projects” to find a project that interests you.

More information on each of the programs described above can be found at project websites:

Journey North	University of Wisconsin Arboretum	https://journeynorth.org/
I-Pollinate	University of Illinois	https://ipollinate.illinois.edu/
Bee Spotter	University of Illinois	https://beespotter.org/
Bumble Bee Watch	The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation	https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/
CoCoRaHS	CoCoRaHS	https://www.cocorahs.org/
Globe At Night	Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, National Science Foundation	https://www.globeatnight.org/
BudBurst	Chicago Botanic Gardens	https://budburst.org/