What Lies in the Soil?

Drag your bones toward even more Halloween-themed citizen science! We know from basic ecology that organisms are adapted to their environment, and where certain organisms live should fall along a gradient of critical environmental factors such as moisture, temperature, nutrient availability, or substrate. How these factors impact diversity and distribution are questions that we could … Read more “What Lies in the Soil?”

Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors

The Snapper, the Groper and the Emperor – Donate Your Skeletons

Drag your bones toward more Halloween-themed citizen science.  The snapper, the groper and the emperor—these are not synonyms for that nasty blind date you landed last month, nor do they form the lineup for a cast of Halloween characters. These are fish. In particular they are demersal species, which refers to a type of fish … Read more “The Snapper, the Groper and the Emperor – Donate Your Skeletons”

Categories: Animals, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water

Spidey Sense Alert: Tracking Spider Populations With Where’s My Spider?

If you ever asked me how many kinds of spiders were there in the world, I would say there are two that I know of. The one with thin long legs that inhabit the walls of my house and keep me up at night, and the enormous one with hairy legs that inhabit theater screens … Read more “Spidey Sense Alert: Tracking Spider Populations With Where’s My Spider?”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Insects

Go Lurking in the Dark – Help Scientists Measure Light Pollution with Dark Sky Meter

Drag your bones toward more Halloween-themed citizen science. Growing up in the last green valley, I didn’t think too much about light pollution. We always brought flashlights trick-or-treating, and I can remember being afraid to go outside after sunset for fear of what could be hiding in the dark; we could always see the stars. … Read more “Go Lurking in the Dark – Help Scientists Measure Light Pollution with Dark Sky Meter”

Categories: Apps, Astronomy & Space, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors

Bats, Bones, Zombees! Five macabre citizen science projects for Halloween.

Drag your bones on over to our favorite, spooky research projects just in time for Halloween. Where is my Spider? Share your photos of spiders. When we understand where spiders are living today, we will be better able to predict what may happen to spiders and agriculture in the future. Get started!   Zombee Watch … Read more “Bats, Bones, Zombees! Five macabre citizen science projects for Halloween.”

Categories: Animals, Astronomy & Space, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Insects, Nature & Outdoors

Gamifying Citizen Science with Floracaching

Gamifying citizen science has the potential to engage existing volunteers in new ways, and to attract a new segment of the gaming-set: millennials. Millennials who were born after 1980 are known to be notorious technology enthusiasts. But what would draw, lets say, the average business student or technology major into playing a game that contributes … Read more “Gamifying Citizen Science with Floracaching”

Categories: Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors

Fraxinus to Fight Fungus

Human beings are remarkably capable animals when it comes to pattern recognition. The human ability to quickly and accurately recognize recurrent patterns is a skill that numerous citizen science projects have put to work on large, difficult data sets. Galaxy Zoo uses these skills to assist with the morphological classification of galaxies. Pattern recognition and … Read more “Fraxinus to Fight Fungus”

Categories: Apps, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Gaming, Nature & Outdoors

NASA Meets Public Health on the Juniper Pollen Project

SciStarter has a whole round-up of tree-related projects for you this season. Branch out with citizen science! I’m fortunate not to suffer from airborne allergies where I live. But when I spent time in southern Mexico during college and couldn’t stop sneezing, I learned firsthand how bothersome allergy symptoms can be. For the 17 million Americans with … Read more “NASA Meets Public Health on the Juniper Pollen Project”

Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors

Scanning the Schoolyard for Hemlock Health

SciStarter has a whole round-up of tree-related projects for you this season. Branch out into citizen science! Massachusetts is on guard. Only the watchers are not local police or state troopers; they are the students of John R. Briggs Elementary School in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. Led by their teacher, Ms. Katherine Bennett, these young scientists scurry … Read more “Scanning the Schoolyard for Hemlock Health”

Categories: Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Science Education Standards

Just Add Water: Why Water Monitoring is Important

Today is World Water Monitoring Day! Participate by ordering a test kit and submitting sample data through December of this year. Also, check out the ocean of other water citizen science projects on SciStarter. Here at SciStarter, we spend a lot of time supporting citizen science, but we also happen to be citizen scientists ourselves. In the … Read more “Just Add Water: Why Water Monitoring is Important”

Categories: Chemistry, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, In the News, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water, Science Education Standards