Citizen Science

One year after the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day was greeted by global shutdowns, things are looking brighter for those in search of opportunities to be involved in community projects, nature celebrations, and conservation work. Deemed the Citizen Science Month, April includes Earth Day, Environmental Education week, and Party for the Planet events at many zoos, including yours.

This year, your Birmingham Zoo hosted several chats, learning opportunities, and giveaway stations at the Party for the Planet weekend (April 24^th) while remaining mindful of social distancing and public safety measures.  At the event, guests had the chance to create seed bombs, meet a Very Hungry Caterpillar, collect Monarch SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) trading cards, and learn about citizen science projects that would benefit scientists studying pollinators, plants, insects, and environmental change.

Citizen science, also known as community or crowd science, is scientific research conducted by members of the general public. It is a growing and beneficial effort that allows studies of complex issues, scale, or timeframes to be completed. In many projects, participants work with biological field experts to learn basic skills or work independently to assist in cataloging, surveying, identifying, and monitoring wildlife and natural places of a particular interest.

Throughout April, staff at your Birmingham Zoo embraced the challenge to join established citizen science projects and enlist volunteers and community members to together strengthen conservation efforts. Garden spaces to attract pollinators were reestablished and planted, an additional honeybee hive was added, plants across your zoo were identified and tagged, and trainings and educational materials were developed to better fulfil the mission of inspiring passion to conserve the natural world.

Two nationwide citizen science projects being worked on include “Caterpillars Count!” and “Butterflies and Moths of North America,” or BAMONA for short. With the adoption of these projects, your Birmingham Zoo will join only 3 other zoos who have Caterpillars Count! started and 3 others who were starting the process this Spring. In addition, the BAMONA project lacked any data from Alabama, so your zoo’s efforts are greatly expanding knowledge provided to scientists and pollinator conservation groups about the vital species found in our state.

[Staff also used smartphone apps such as “LeafSnap” and “Seek” (from iNaturalist) to assist in studying plants on zoo grounds that were relevant to these projects.]

If you are interested in learning more about citizen science projects and opportunities, watch your Birmingham Zoo’s webpage for ways to get involved, smartphone app user-guides, and potential training sessions being posted and advertised. In addition, you can now find volunteers wearing Citizen Scientist vests throughout the zoo while they are working, ask them questions, and spot tags and QR codes on dozens of trees, shrubs, and other plants during your zoo visit which will guide you to relevant websites to learn more. Last, you can download the apps mentioned above, join in the projects at home, and search for additional projects that are accepting volunteers by visiting CitizenScience.gov.