Citizen Science

If you want to contribute important data to scientific projects, here are a few great citizen science projects run by fellow ecologists.

Treezilla – help create a monster map of all the trees in the UK.
The project aims to map every tree in the UK and calculate the benefits they trees provide.

Anyone can not only map and describe ‘their’ trees but they can also help other members of the online community to map, identify, and add other information about the trees in the database. You can also search the map to see many aspects of the data – e.g. the location of the nearest oak tree or the ecological benefit of ash trees in your area.

The data are really valuable for research on e.g tree diseases, effects of climate change, and the valuable ecosystem services that trees provide.

You need to sign up to add information, but anyone can search the maps.

 

iSpot – A friendly and free community helping to identify wildlife and share nature.
iSpot is a Citizen Science project that is perfect for enthusiastic naturalists. Registered users upload images of wildlife observations, identify species, and discuss their findings with other members. There’s even a selection of online identification tools and the option to ask for help with identifying species. The more you contribute to iSpot, by sharing images and identifying species correctly, the more your profile develops.

iSpot provides opportunities to learn more about wildlife as well as a database of observations which is made available for scientific analysis.

 

Conker Tree Science – Britain’s horse-chestnut trees are under attack by caterpillars that ‘mine’ the trees’ leaves. Help scientists find out more and ‘conker’ this pest!

The Harlequin Ladybird Survey –  The most invasive ladybird on Earth has arrived in Britain and is threatening native ladybirds. Record your sightings of this voracious beetle!

The Big Butterfly Count – A nationwide survey aimed at helping us assess the health of our environment. Butterflies react very quickly to changes in their environment, so butterfly declines are an early warning for other wildlife losses.

Earthworm Watch – Survey the earthworms in your garden or local greenspace. Sign up to receive a survey pack and the all you need to do is dig two small holes to count earthworms and measure soil properties.

There are many more projects – take a look at the BBC webpage Do Something Great for other ways to get involved.