Texas Master Naturalist Brazos Valley Chapter: What To Do Now That The Spring Rush Is Done?

Another April has gone and with it all the TMN weekend activities like Earth Day, BioBlitz, and the Hazardous Waste Clean Up. You might be asking, what can I do to still be active? Why, you can become a Citizen Scientist!

Who are Citizen Scientists?

Citizen scientists are regular, normal people that contribute to scientific research projects. Volunteers from all over the world make observations and enter the data online. These reports can be from dedicated trips to local natural areas or just documenting what’s crawling through the backyard. Depending on the project, it can be as easy as taking a picture of an insect and recording the location where you found it.

Ironclad Beetle from Lick Creek Park that I documented using iNaturalist.

Why Participate?

Citizen scientists help the scientific community in two ways. They collect data that would take the researcher years to gather and at a much lower price… for free (in most cases)! Need to collect data from all 50 states and you only have a year to do it? Call out the citizen scientists! The data that is gathered can be used to look at trends showing the behavior of a species over a large geographic area. The Lost Ladybug Project, for example, seeks to study the recent decline of native species in North America. The particular researcher in charge may have spent his or her lifetime amassing data for this project and thousands of dollars for traveling from place to place to make observations. But with an army of citizen scientists, the data collection phase of the research is quicker leaving the scientist more time for analysis.

Now, becoming a citizen scientist is easier than ever! All you have to do is find a project that interests you and sign up online. There might be some initial training but beyond that, when you make your observations is up to you. For most projects data collection is not a structured event (with the exception of some birding events) but it’s something you can do on your own time that best fits your own schedule.

Rick viewing the fields at the Texas A&M Rangeland Ecology grounds for the
College Station Christmas Bird Count, December 14, 2013.

Think you need to be a specialist to be a citizen scientist? Nope! You don’t have to be an expert in the field, just someone with a desire to learn more about the topic. Most projects have experts that will check your entries to verify your record. Some even have help sites to identify your unknown species. Researchers that rely on citizen scientist observations know there is a learning curve and everyone needs help and practice. These researchers want citizen scientists to participate so they can get their data! More participation means more data, which will give the researcher a more complete answer to their scientific question.

Become a Citizen Scientist! Websites to Get Involved:

These are really just a FEW of the citizen scientist projects out there! Some will count for TMN volunteer credit and others will not. But really, participation in a project should be about learning more about the topic or wanting to be a part of something big.

Several sites are included with the Texas Nature Tracker Program from Texas Parks and Wildlife. Projects include: the Biological Inventory Team Project, Box Turtle Survey Project, Texas Amphibian Watch, Texas Black-tailed Prairie Dog Watch, Texas Horned Lizard Watch, Texas Hummingbird Roundup, Texas Mussel Watch, Texas Whooper Watch:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/texas_nature_trackers/

Harris's Sparrow seen on the Gibbons Creek Christmas Bird Count, December 30, 2013.

eBird: to report bird sightings: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

***eBird can be used for yearly bird counts like Project Feeder Watch, the Great Backyard Bird Count, and the Christmas Bird Count… these count for Volunteer Hours!

Lost Ladybug Project, from the website: “The Lost Ladybug Project is seeking citizen scientists and naturalists to take photos of ladybugs to help understand the recent decline of native species. Please help us build a North American map of ladybug species”

http://www.lostladybug.org/

*** This has been approved for Volunteer Hours!

Texas Invasive Plants: Report locations and species of invasive plants here in Texas. Pick your “favorite” invasive species and track it around the country:

http://www.texasinvasives.org/invaders/

Want to report sightings but yours don’t seem to fit the sites above? These are general sites to post any wildlife and plant observations:

http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Citizen-Science/Wildlife-Watch.aspx

http://www.inaturalist.org/