According to the National Geographic Society, citizen science is “the practice of public participation and collaborating in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge.” But to Emma Farmer, Ecosystems Manager at The Dawes Arboretum, it means much more than that. It means building curiosity through nature, providing knowledge to the community and inviting every citizen to contribute to larger scientific research.
“Anyone can be a citizen scientist,” said Farmer.
The Arboretum has seen citizen scientists from ages 4 to 84. Dawes is involved in four citizen science initiatives: the Christmas Bird Count, Nestwatch, butterfly monitoring and FeederWatch. Farmer and her team oversee the Nestwatch initiative – also called nest box monitoring at The Arboretum, an opportunity that monitors Eastern bluebird activity at Dawes.
Blue bird monitoring
Nest box monitoring began in 1983 and has grown from 14 boxes to an impressive 120 nest boxes for cavity-nesting birds, like bluebirds. These boxes were created to encourage habitation, as there has been habitat loss with cavity-nesting birds historically.
The 120 nest boxes are broken up into 12 trails, that are monitored every week, and every other week by citizen scientists between April and August every year.
“Populations are now stable,” Farmer said. “That would not have been possible without volunteers.”
Citizen scientists examine the boxes and notate how many eggs are in the nest, how many young are present, if they look healthy, if there are any parasites or pests and how many are leaving the nest.
These citizen scientists are filling a gap that scientists face all around the world: lack of time to gather more information.
“There’s no possible way for scientists to gather all of this data,” said Farmer. “The conversation field is relatively small. Citizen scientists fill the gap within the scientific community by providing boots-on-the-ground data collection. We would still probably have fourteen boxes without citizen scientists. We would not have the time or the staff capacity.”
Bluebirds are not only important to the food chain, but they affect people’s everyday backyards. An extinction of bluebirds could result in an increase in the insect population, therefore leaving backyards managed by bluebirds overrun with bugs.
Butterfly monitoring
In addition to monitoring bluebirds, The Arboretum and citizen scientists monitor butterflies. The monitoring began in 1999, runs from April through October annually and is monitored on a weekly basis. There are over 25 species of butterflies that are monitored at Dawes.
These butterflies are essential for pollination, a process in which insects transfer pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma. Successful pollination can result in fertilization of a flower and the growth of seed or fruit, which allows food for humans to grow.
Although the Monarch butterfly tends to receive the most media attention, so many species of butterflies don’t get credit for doing the same job, Farmer said. Through butterfly monitoring, Dawes and citizen scientists are supporting native plants and providing data for butterfly research.
In fact, due to the validity of the protocols at The Arboretum, Dawes was selected for a research paper on butterfly abundance using the data it and citizen scientists have collected which includes more than 20 years of population data.
How to get involved
There are multiple ways to get involved in citizen science at The Arboretum, and even ways you can get involved at home. Here are some steps to get started:
- Reach out to The Arboretum by emailing volunteers@dawesarb.org. They will be able to connect you with the volunteer opportunities that are best suited for your needs.
- Consider: Are you more interested in bluebird monitoring, butterfly monitoring or both? Both opportunities require season-long commitments. Bluebird monitoring takes approximately two hours every other week, while butterfly monitoring takes about three hours due to the nature of the identification. Both initiatives are on hiking terrains and about a mile-and-a-half walk.
- Can’t make it to The Arboretum? You can be a citizen scientist in your own backyard. If you register through Nestwatch, you can track birds using the very same data sheets we use here at The Arboretum.
The Conservation Team at The Arboretum oversees the monitoring initiatives and makes sure volunteers have the knowledge to monitor these species. Training is always provided.