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Blog: Citizen Science Projects, People, and Perspectives
Celebrate Pollinator Week with Citizen Science!
By Eva Lewandowski, Jun 23, 2016
Photo: Wendy Caldwell
This week we celebrate National Pollinator Week, in honor of the bees, butterflies, beetles, and other animals that provide essential services to ecosystems and agricultural lands everywhere.
Citizen science is at the forefront of pollinator research, and below we highlight six projects that you can join to help study and protect pollinators. To find more, visit the SciStarter Global Project Finder.
Cheers!
The SciStarter Team
Photo: Johanna James-Heinz
BeeSpotter
If you’re in Illinois, Missouri, or Ohio, your help is needed to study bee populations there. Just take pictures of any bees you see and upload them to the project website.
With the monarch population in decline, volunteers across North America are needed to monitor monarch habitats for the presence of eggs, larvae, and pupae. This information is then used to inform monarch conservation.
How do pesticides impact pollinators? What plants are important for maintaining pollinator populations? How do urban green spaces contribute to pollinators? Help answer these questions and more with the Great Sunflower Project.
Butterflies and Moths of North American (BAMONA) maintains a database of butterfly and moth sightings across the continent. Contribute your sightings today!
Bumble bees are key pollinators in North America. When you see a bumble bee, snap a photo and post it to the project website. It’s ok if you can’t identify the bee species; project experts help with identification.
If you can’t make it outside to study pollinators, you can help from your computer! With DigiVol, you can transcribe museum and research records on all sorts of species, including pollinators.
National Moth Week begins July 23. Find out how you can participate here.
BeeSpotter is hosting a BeeBlitz onSaturday, June 25. Photograph bees in Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio, and upload them to the project website to participate. Read more here.
Secchi Dip-In 2016 measures water quality throughout July. Find out more here.
Eva Lewandowski is the Citizen-based Monitoring Coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, where she coordinates a statewide citizen science network. She has a PhD in Conservation Biology from the University of Minnesota and is an active volunteer.
