The amount of citizen science activities, applications and data have increased exponentially in the last few years. Fortunately, most of this data has been digitized, or is collected electronically through smart phone applications and websites, so that it is quickly archived and shared via platforms like Inaturalist.org, citsci.org e-bird.org etc. These platforms and data can be used to assess regional biodiversity while expanding outreach opportunities and community “sense of place”. To explore this potential, we mined data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) datasets (www.gbif.org) within the great lakes to assess regional biodiversity using GIS tools and proximity analyses. We also explored many older historical observations from museum specimens and herbariums that were contributed to the GBIF. This helped us to connect individuals and observations with specific locations and history.
Results/Conclusions
Proximity analyses revealed several interesting patterns, but there are some inherent biases that need to be addressed to effectively assess biodiversity using historical and citizen science observations. Many interesting stories were discovered with links to historical figures and locations demonstrating how citizen science, museum records and specimens can be used to share place-based stories that may help and enhance various public outreach efforts.