Blog: Citizen Science Projects, People, and Perspectives
By Melinda T. Hough, Nov 22, 2013
Dig into even more Thanksgiving projects with your friends and family! Imagine: After months of treacherous sailing across the open ocean, skirting coral reefs and rocky shores, you alight upon lush tropical islands greeted by enticing aromas, unknown species, and a symphony of bird song… Four years into her circumnavigation of the globe, the HMS … Read more “Exploring the Biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands As “Darwin for a Day””
Categories: Animals, Apps, Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors
By Lisa Gardiner, Oct 31, 2011
They found paper wasps, cactus flies and fruit flies. They saw dragonflies and butterflies zooming about. And when they peered into bushes like hackberry and creosote they saw ants, termites and ground beetles living underneath. They even found beetles in an old soda can.
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Categories: Citizen Science
By Lisa Gardiner, Aug 23, 2011
On June 1, 2011 at 11:51 PM, a group of people assembled on the beach in Northpoint, New York. There was no moon shining that night, not even a sliver. The people carried flashlights or wore headlamps. They held clipboards and paper.
Their mission: to report where horseshoe crabs were spotted along the beach.
This was just one of several places along New York’s shoreline where people collect data about horseshoe crabs. Volunteers also amassed on dark beaches in Stony Brook, Staten Island, Brooklyn and Westhampton. In all, volunteers monitored the comings and goings of horseshoe crabs at ten New York beaches that night.
They are a part of the New York Horseshoe Crab Monitoring Network, a group of citizen scientists who are documenting where horseshoe crabs emerge from the water to lay eggs along beaches in New York State. On specific dates through the spring and early summer, participants collect data about the number of horseshoe crabs and identify their size and sex. They attach tags to the horseshoe crabs bulky exoskeleton and look for tags from prior years.
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Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Ocean & Water
