We want your data! Designing a citizen-science program based on active and passive volunteerism

Background/Question/Methods

The citizen scientist project Life on the Purple Loosestrife (www.flickr.com/groups/lifeontheloosestrife) was designed to take advantage of a preexisting social network of nature photographers to track the use of the invasive wetland plant purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) by other organisms. With the goal of surveying as wide a region as possible, some volunteers were actively recruited to photograph plant and animals observed in stands of purple loosestrife and post them to a special group on the photosharing website Flickr, where the photos could be tagged and flora and fauna identified. Other “passive” volunteers were Flickr members who were asked to share preexisting photos of purple loosestrife with that same group.
Results/Conclusions

Forty-four volunteers from three different countries and four different US states have participated in the project so far, with the majority of volunteers being “passive” and contributing just one or two photos upon request. Results revealed the presence of twelve different orders of plants, gastropods, insects and spiders, with forty-three different insect and spider families represented. The insect data was comparable with a peer-reviewed study performed in Canada in 1994, and demonstrates not only that citizen scientist teams are effective at collecting valuable biological data but also that the internet is an effective tool to share such data. While a species survey done in this manner will invariably lack depth compared to a typical scientific study performed by experienced biologists, it offers the advantage of greater geographic breadth and serves as educational outreach to inform the public about invasive species and the importance of wetland habitats.