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From bug knowledge to
environmental benefits

Citizen science can be fun and educational, but it can also spur interest among students and teachers that may ultimately benefit the environment.

An Australian school science project called Insect Investigators called upon students from 50 schools to participate in a citizen-science project contributing to scientific research. Using special traps, they gathered insect samples for DNA analysis.

The students who enjoyed these activities were more likely to verbalize their intent to do more to help the planet — this includes protecting natural environments and joining similar science projects.

The teachers also began to include more content about entomology, ecosystems and environmental care in the curriculum. Students and teachers in remote areas also felt more connected to the science world and part of something bigger.

Beyond educational impacts, the project provided benefits to regional and remote schools by creating connections with scientists and generating a sense of community involvement and scientific contribution.

These findings were published in Austral Entomology.

More like this: This April become a citizen scientist

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This April, become a citizen scientist

We often think of science as the sole domain of researchers who have made it their life’s work. But there’s also room for regular people to get involved. This is especially true in April, which is Global Citizen Science Month.

Citizen science is exactly what it sounds like — the opportunity for laypeople to get involved in science on whatever level of involvement they choose. From bird-watching to weather monitoring to measuring the brightness of the night sky, there is something to satisfy many areas of scientific interest.

One example of a citizen science initiative is the Sahim app, which launched in February. This app, which takes its name from the Arabic word for “contribute,” allows participants to record and upload data related to discarded single-use plastic. The data goes directly to the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi and helps scientists and policy makers create future directives.

Global Citizen Science Month is a collaboration between Arizona State University in the United States, SciStarter and the Library of Medicine. SciStarter, founded by Darlene Cavalier of ASU, has been running Citizen Science Month since 2016.

The program is dedicated to rallying people all over the world and encouraging their involvement in the advancement of science. The month includes programs and events hosted by citizen science project leaders and scientists to call upon people from all walks of life to get involved in scientific research in their communities or on a global scale.

IMAGE Credit: Unsplash

Involvement in a project can range from one person to millions. People participate in the “development of research questions and hypotheses, data collection, data analysis, drawing conclusions, and disseminating data,” says a team of researchers in a 2021 paper published in Springerlink. And the movement can be crucial for scientific development as data can be collected on a massive scale — data that one scientist could not collect on their own.

SciStarter is an organization that recruits, trains and equips citizen scientists globally. It currently has more than 3000 active and vetted citizen science projects and more than 100,000 participants, both running the research and looking to participate.

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COVID was no barrier for UAE bird
enthusiasts

Research slowed during the pandemic for non-COVID matters as sputtering supply chains and closed labs made work difficult. But for a pair of amateur bird enthusiasts in the UAE, the skies were open and delivered an unexpected discovery.

The pair, then-chemistry teacher Oscar Campbell and physics teacher Simon Lloyd, made the outdoors their lab and discovered at an Abu Dhabi golf course a bird previously thought to be extinct and unknown in the UAE.

The steppe whimbrel is native to the Russian plains, remote areas of Kazakhstan and central Asia and is one of four whimbrel subspecies. It was declared extinct in 1994 and rediscovered in 1997, but its wintering grounds, in Mozambique, were not discovered until 2016. The UAE is a mid-way stop.

Campbell has been observing birds for many years, but spotting the juvenile steppe whimbrel was noteworthy.

We took hundreds of pictures. There are a bunch of features but the precise details of the underwing pattern are definitely the most diagnostic, critical ones

– Oscar Campbell

“It’s a significant finding,” Campbell says, because although there are an estimated 100 of them in existence, the fact that they found the young bird in the UAE means the species is continuing to breed.

Campbell and Lloyd had been doing monthly surveys of birds around the grounds of Saadiyat Beach Golf Club for about three years before they spotted the bird in August 2020. Campbell says the team at the golf club were excited about hosting such a rare bird.

Getting a look under the wing is crucial to identifying a steppe whimbrel. It was tricky, Campbell says.

“Part of the problem of course is most of the time you can’t see the underwings of a bird. And when you can see them, it’s flying so it’s moving fast. We took hundreds of pictures. There are a bunch of features but the precise details of the underwing pattern are definitely the most diagnostic, critical ones,” Campbell tells KUST Review.

The then-science teacher – now environmental scientist and ornithologist at Nautica Environmental Associates – regularly spent time out exploring and surveying birds as an amateur scientist for several other properties around the Emirates. He is currently working with a team on the third edition of Field Guide to Birds of the Middle East. The book is scheduled to be published in 2024.

Amateur scientists around the world are becoming more involved in research in a process growing in popularity known as citizen science. Amateurs work in collaboration with scientists to contribute data, analyze the data collaboratively or otherwise participate in projects.