Citizen science in urban ecology: The changing picture of participation in avian ecological research

Background/Question/Methods

Citizen science is increasingly viewed as a valuable and necessary means of achieving progress in the discipline of urban ecology. Limited budgets, the need for increasing sample sizes, and the possibility of training citizens to fill some of the roles of professional scientists in work formerly done only by academics and agency personnel are only some of the factors behind these changes. This presentation focuses on an avian research project utilizing over 120 volunteer citizen scientists in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Migratory birds utilize a variety of habitats (“stopover habitat”) while migrating between their breeding and wintering grounds. One important set of stopover habitats that are often neglected, but of crucial importance, are those that fall within urban areas. These urban habitats include parks, disturbed habitats, residential areas, and natural areas. Given the paucity of information about urban habitats, our overall objective is to assess habitat quality for migratory birds and changes in habitats within Milwaukee County. To address this overall objective, this project is assessing habitat use and quality in riparian and upland sites, and training citizen-scientists to begin monitoring birds in Milwaukee, working in conjunction with a team of professional scientists in addressing urban ecology questions. The Milwaukee County Avian Migration Monitoring Partnership was formed to accomplish these goals through measuring avian use in eight habitat patches in an urban matrix, half of which are in riparian locations and half of which are in upland sites. We are using (1) transect counts and mist-netting to determine avian species richness, timing of migration, and abundance, (2) blood-sampling and plasma metabolite analysis to assess relative habitat quality for refueling, and (3) vegetation sampling and analysis on all study sites. Citizen science volunteer involvement includes training for transect counts, assistance with banding operations, vegetation analysis, and recording of data. Our goal in working with volunteers is to establish a long-term monitoring project of birds in urban centers that can grow larger in future years.

Results/Conclusions

The development of a volunteer citizen science team for this project has resulted in substantial cost savings as well as capacity building, a sense of "ownership" of the project for local citizens, and enhanced the research team's ability to collect additional data.