While we most commonly associate Google with its ability to search the Intertubes for our favorite science FAILs, the tech giant is also opening new doors for citizen science. A recent article in the Public Library of Science (PloS) ONE highlights a new mobile phone application, powered by Google Maps and Google’s Android operating system, that allows professional and citizen scientists to gather, submit, and access research data from the field.

The application, called EpiCollect, was initially designed for epedimiological and ecological studies but has potential for a number of other fields, including economics, public health, and resource allocation. Individual users can input data records (variables, photos, GPS location, etc) into EpiCollect from their mobile phone, which is synchronized to a central database. An accompanying web application, located at www.spatialepidemiology.net, provides a common location for mapping, visualization, and analysis of the data by everyone involved in the study. The two-way connectivity between the EpiCollect mobile application and the central database could increase the collection and collation of data for community projects, particular in resource-limited areas.

Importantly, EpiCollect was developed as a free software using Google’s open-source Android operating system. Anyone interested in using the software is encouraged to contact David Aanensen in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London.  The EpiCollect website also provides three sample epidemological datasets and a facility to geocode your own spatial data.

A first-person account of a citizen science project, from our very own, Georgette.

Last weekend, I gave my first go at searching for ladybugs to photograph for the Lost Ladybug Project. The project looks for local evidence of a few native species of ladybugs that have become quite rare in recent years, being quickly replaced by more exotic species. Ladybugs are important and beneficial predators; they eat harmful insects like aphids that damage plants. This project aims to collect photographs and raise awareness for the many important questions this change poses for agriculture like, Will these new exotic species be less able to protect farms from harmful insects?

The site provides tons of useful and interesting information, from how to make your own sweep net, to illustrated ladybug identification pictures, to bookmarks, pamphlets and even a coloring book page for kids to join in on the fun!

I set out on my expedition on Saturday, heading for the BioPond at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Ripe with beautiful greenery and wildlife, I figured this was a sure spot for finding some spotted friends. With sweep net and bug box in hand I searched the area, but was unsuccessful. My lack of success continued for the next two days. Despite having certainly seen ladybugs in Philadelphia, finding them out in the wild seemed to be quite a challenge. Perhaps they really are disappearing?!

My search will certainly continue. I’ve planted some cilantro and fennel in my own garden to attract the lovely critters (ladybugs are particularly fond of those herbs). In any case, I had fun and learned a lot about  ladybugs in the process. If you happen to come across a ladybug, scoop it up and snap some pictures to send in to the Lost Ladybug Project. Send us (Science Cheerleader) your thoughts on the experience as well. And I’ll leave you with this lovely ladybug tune.

PROJECT SNAPSHOT:

Topics: ladybugs, nature, outdoors

Location: anywhere

Duration: any

Cost: free

Gear: sweep net (wire hanger, pillowcase, duct tape), camera

Level of Difficulty: easy

Cornell Lab of Ornithology presents this year’s contest in Celebrating Urban Birds, Funky Nests in Funky Places! Do some bird-watching and get creative with a photo, painting, quilt, sculpture, story…or any other medium that inspires you. And if the thought of getting outside and getting those creative juices flowing wasn’t enough, they’re giving away some great prizes like a digital camera, signed birding books, and HUMM hummingbird feeder!

PROJECT SNAPSHOT:

Topics: bird-watching

Location: anywhere

Duration: until July 31st, 2009

Cost: free

Gear: whatever you choose!

Level of Difficulty: easy

Here’s Dr. John, with a new twist on the classic game of Frogger.

The Vancouver Aquarium has re-imagined the classic arcade game, Frogger, to better reflect the global decline in the amphibian population. The new version, Frogster, retains the spirit of the original game (e.g., horrendous controls and even more horrendous graphics) but now offers a myriad of new dangers, including loss of habitat, pesticides, pollution, and other human factors. The game also provides informative “Did you know?” facts about the amphibian population; for instance, did you know that air pollution is deadly because frogs breathe through their skin? Neither did I!

Frogster is advertised as “The Hardest Game You’ll Ever Play”, and they aren’t kidding. Navigating through car exhaust, polluted water, and human interference is a lot harder when you’re a helpless little frog.  In fact, it was so frustrating to watch my frogs repeatedly drowned or flattened by oncoming traffic that I was compelled to help.

FrogWatch USA makes it easy! Since 1998, they’ve leveraged citizen scientists to monitor the health and behavior of various frog species around the country. In as little as 20 minutes a week, you can monitor frogs and toads in your own neighborhood wetlands and help scientists develop practical ways to help conserve these important animals. You can even learn to make your own frog calls — great fun at parties!

So play Frogster, get motivated, and let’s start monitoring some frogs!

• Topics: frogs
• Location: neighborhood
• Duration: 20 minutes or more
• Cost: low cost
• Gear: pencil, flashlight, thermometer, watch
• Level of Difficulty: easy

Squirrels live in small areas of our neighborhoods year round and don’t hibernate, though they often go unnoticed as we humans carry on our daily lives.  However, you might say that squirrels and people have a lot more in common than any of us probably realize when we see one interrupting our picnics or scurrying across a sidewalk.  Like us, squirrels are creatures of habit, using the same sources of food, water, and shelter almost every day in order to survive.  By studying the appearance of squirrels, scientists also gain a lot more insight into our own habitats.  If squirrel populations fluctuate over the course of a year, this can tell a story about the changing ecology of a neighborhood.

Project Squirrel, a project sponsored by the Chicago Academy of the Sciences and the University of Illinois of Chicago, is trying to understand urban squirrel biology as applied to a larger “urban game park,” including everything from squirrels to migratory birds, nocturnal mammals, and secretive reptiles and amphibians.

To gain data on squirrel populations across the United States, Project Squirrel is calling all citizen scientists to count the number of squirrels in their neighborhood and report their findings.  Citizen scientists will also be asked, when possible, to distinguish between two different types of tree squirrels – gray and fox.  According to Steve Sullivan, the mechanism of co-existence between squirrel species can help tell an interesting story.  Depending on the levels of predation, housing, food, and other factors, the relative abundance of these two species will fluctuate.  This, in turn, tells an interesting story about ecological interactions affecting not just squirrels but many other local animals as well.

Project Squirrel is designed so that anyone of any age can participate, and could be incorporated into all of our daily routines without much disruption.  Squirrels are very easy to see and identify without extensive effort for citizen scientists.  More importantly, citizen scientists can gather data over a much broader region than what scientists alone could cover.

Also, Steve and his other scientists are not just studying squirrels – they will also be studying US.  The scientists at Project Squirrel are also going to use this project to understand the effect that participation in citizen science has on participants (this will be tested through an upcoming portion of their web site that is not yet published).  I have a feeling their conclusions are going to be very positive!  And so, getting involved and documenting your experience will also help provide information that can be used to recruit other citizen scientists to action!

Many thanks to Steve Sullivan for suggesting this project and contributing a tremendous amount of information to this article.  Again, I encourage all readers to contribute their citizen science ideas here.

Statistics from previous years:  Project Squirrel was founded in 1997 by Wendy Jackson and Joel Brown, and since then has had over 1000 participants provide observations.  This is a large number, but not large enough – I challenge our Science Cheerleader community to double this number in the next two years! Simply because of Project Squirrel’s resource constraints, this project is focused on the Chicago Wilderness biogeographical region – Chicago and its the surrounding suburbs in southern Wisconsin, northern Indiana, and southern Michigan.  However, it is a useful project anyplace there are tree squirrels.  People from all parts of the United States are encouraged to submit their observations, even if they aren’t from the Chicago region.

PROJECT SNAPSHOT:

• Topics: squirrels, ecology
• Location: at home or close to home
• Duration: a few minutes, whenever you can
• Cost: free or low cost
• Gear: no equipment needed
• Level of Difficulty: Easy

Hey, Citizen Scientists! Here’s another terrific activity for our  Project Finder. BioBlitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of scientists, volunteers, and community members join forces to find, identify, and learn about as many local plant and animal species as possible. National Geographic is “helping conduct a BioBlitz in a different park each year throughout the decade leading up to the U.S. National Park Service centennial in 2016.” The next annual National Geographic-National Park Service BioBlitz takes place at the Indiana Dunes BioBlitz, a 24-hour event from May 15 to May 16, noon to noon. The goals of the BioBlitz are “to record as many living organisms in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in 24 hours, to increase awareness of the diverse species in this urban setting and to better understand how to protect the natural environment in the future. Chicago Wilderness and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources are collaborating in the race to discover and document the 15,000-acre park.”      

“Explorers” of all ages are needed.

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

 Topics: Animals, Birds, Ecology, Environment, Nature

 Location: Chicago, Outdoors

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Fee: No Costs

Gear: No special equipment required

Duration: 24 hours

Suitable for people of all ages!

Firefly season has ended. In a few short months, volunteer citizen scientists (folks like us), recorded 11,800 fireflies on behalf of researchers. The data collected will help scientists better understand these critters and shed light on how nature and human actions impact their fate.

Through this program, FireFly Watch, citizens help scientists while learning a good deal about science in the process.

“Firefly researchers have been saying for years that a site like this is needed, but [until now] nobody has taken the time and effort to put one in place,” says Don Salvatore, director of FireFly Watch at the Boston Museum of Science.

It’s one of many so-call Citizen Science projects. Expect to see more popping up as researchers’ budgets are slashed and more of the DIY (do-it-yourself) population seizes the opportunity to make a difference in the world.

Cheers!