The Citizen Science Toolkit is a compilation of resources and ideas, currently organized under a step-wise framework for project development. Steps include choosing a question, forming a team, refining protocols, recruiting participants, training participants, accepting data, analyzing data, disseminating results, and measuring effects.
Each class K-8 has chosen a species of local animal to study and collect NatureMapping data. K-spiders, 1st-butterflies and moths, 2nd- birds, 3rd-insects, 4th-reptiles, 5th-wildflowers and weeds, 6th-fossorial mammals. We have produce a native plant garden, a field guide that we add to each year, a school mural. We study on the schoolgrounds, at a local creek area, in a local canyon and on a local mountain so the students can compare common animals and plants from 4 different areas.
This project is designed to monitor and prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species through heightened awareness and education. This is an ongoing project throughout Chippewa, Eau Claire, Barron, Dunn, and Rusk counties that started the summer of 2007 and will end the fall of 2009. Each summer 40 different lakes are visited three times each. Volunteers commit to spending at least one day helping the Citizen Science Center Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator sample different AIS on lakes in the area, with training taking place on the same day.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Beaver Creek ReserveWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesUniversity of Wisconsin ExtensionAna BradySarah Braun
Operation Possum was a large-scale, community-based study of possums in South Australia. In 2008, Operation Possum collected data about possum species, how people manage possums, and participants’ attitudes towards possums, with a total of 2,234 online surveys completed from 462 different suburbs and towns. The conservation of wildlife living close to people can be complex, especially when the species behaves in ways that disturb or distress people, as possums certainly do. However, we found that a general admiration of possums, with a caveat regarding their less desirable behaviours, defined the relationship with these adorable yet troublesome marsupials: the paradox of the possum. Results from this project, including information about possums, stories submitted by participants, management strategies (and their effectiveness), and an introduction to Citizen Science, have been published as a book - The Possum-Tail Tree: Understanding Possums through Citizen Science.
This project trains volunteers like you to conduct acoustic bat surveys of your local area using an AnaBat detector attached to a PDA with GPS. The detector picks up the echolocation calls emitted by bats and translates it to a frequency the human ear can hear. Each detection system records information about phenology and species presence. Data is entered into the Wisconsin Bat Monitoring Program database, with the long-term scope of this project to compile information about phenology, species presence, migration timing vs. residence, and trends of the bat species in Wisconsin.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sarah BraunWisconsin Department of Natural Resources
The intent of this network is to encourage volunteers to get involved with our annual horseshoe crab monitoring program on various reference beaches throughout New York’s Marine District. “Citizen Scientists” will work with trained site coordinators to help collect data on horseshoe crab spawning abundance, size, sex and tag returns around full and new moon evenings from May to July. The data collected through this program is used to assess the status of horseshoe crabs in NY State, and will help determine the management and conservation of this important species throughout the region.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Matthew SclafaniNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Water Logging is a volunteer water quality monitoring program, that monitors water quality in the Huntington-Northport Bay Complex in Long Island, NY. The goals and objectives of the Water Logging Program are to: 1. Educate and involve the public in water quality assessment and protection. 2. Develop a sense of stewardship among the community in the Huntington-Northport Bay watershed. 3. Screen for water quality impairments and determine long-term water quality trends. 4. Document effects of water quality improvement programs. 5. Provide useful water quality data to interested parties and the public.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County
The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the Interdisciplinary Center for Coastal Studies, New York Botanical Garden, Puerto Rico Youth at Risk, Boy Scouts, and others implemented a citizen science program for age 12 and older. This project targeted local residents, visitors to Hacienda La Esperanza Reserve, and members of community environmental projects on topics including archeology and human impacts on local ecosystems; conservation and restoration of wetlands; and shoreline and costal processes.
Nature Abounds announces Watch the Wild™, a program where citizen science volunteers observe and report on the “wild” in your community, from trees and plants to weather and wildlife activity. By monitoring the "wild", observations can help us to understand how our eco-systems are changing and aids us in adapting for the future.
NASA cloud observation project. Ground observation reports are compared to cloud information retrieved from satellite instruments in Earth orbit. Learn how to make and report a cloud observation at the time of a satellite overpass. Observations welcome from any interested observers, especially in places where official weather observations are rare. Get satellite overpass times, learn about making observations, report an observation, and explore the database of reported observations (which includes corresponding satellite data once they are available).
IceWatch USA™, a program of Nature Abounds, brings citizen science volunteers the opportunity to help scientists study how our climate is changing! In as little as 10 minutes, volunteers can report information that will help to analyze how our climate will change in different regions of the United States, and how our ecosystems are reacting to the change. IceWatch USA™ is modeled after and a proud partner of Ice Watch Canada.
H2O Chelsea is a community-based water research and surveillance program developed collaboratively by the Municipality of Chelsea, the University of Ottawa’s Institute of the Environment and Action Chelsea for the Respect of the Environment (ACRE). The goal of the program is to develop a better understanding of ground and surface water resources in Chelsea that will inform municipal planning and management decisions. The project is volunteer-driven, relying on the commitment of over 70 local residents, municipal employees and professors and students from the University of Ottawa.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Municipality of ChelseaUniversity of OttawaAction Chelsea for the Respect of the Environment (ACRE)Isabelle Pitre