In the summers of 2017 and 2018, undergraduate students from across the country participated in a NSF funded research project focused on citizen science pollinator studies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) using innovative technological field methods. Long-term, this project hopes to address multiple questions regarding the validity of citizen science projects, such as: can students and citizen scientists detect pollinator decline within national parks? Are citizen science applications effective in creating accurate pollinator observations? Can technology enhance data collection methods in a noninvasive way? Finally, using humans, technology, and citizen science applications, which is most useful in tracking pollinator species diversity? Students spent eight weeks photographing a diverse group of species across the parks using iNaturalist, a citizen science mobile application, to assist in data collection and identification for the GYE databases. Once out of the field, students worked towards uploading and identifying species for the parks using field guides and the citizen science community.
Results/Conclusions
Data using citizen science and technology field methods was completed by student teams over the past two field seasons, leading to over 5000 pollinator observations and over 400 species identified. Besides students collecting and identifying pollinators, curators within iNaturalist have also followed this project, thereby improving the accuracy of these records for future use. Field collection for this project will continue in summer 2019 so that species diversity within the parks can be verified over time. This presentation will highlight how students were able to successfully implement citizen science and technology into field research so that long-term, the GYE has a better idea about the scope of diversity present within these changing ecosystems. In addition, students will provide tips as to how you can utilize citizen science data within your field research projects through their personal experience navigating the realm of citizen science first-hand.