Citizen Science Projects

Citizen Science

The concept of citizen science projects has become an important emerging field in recent years. Generally speaking, citizen science is categorized into one of two major ideas. The first refers to large scale data collection and analysis projects relying on crowds of citizens to assist with observations and data classification while the second describes citizen science as an attempt to provide stakeholders with the opportunity to participate in collecting data, influencing policy in their community and promoting democracy in issues of the environment and public health (Kullenberg and Kasperowski, 2016).

Forestry

Trees provide many ecological services such as providing habitat, climate moderation and cleaning air and water. One of the most important services that they provide is the sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in the plant’s biomass. To better understand the value of the trees on our school campus you will collect field data including tree species, diameter at breast height (DBH) and the height of each tree, in order to calculate above the aboveground biomass and the amount of carbon dioxide sequestered in the trees on the SPFHS campus.

Soil Productivity

To explore the themes of environmental externalities and environmental equity, we will conduct a series of citizen science projects for the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Ecosystem (SPFE), this one focusing on the productivity of the soil. Soil is a critical component of any environment, serving as the literal foundation for terrestrial ecosystems. Plants rely on soil for access to nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) and in turn help to hold soil in place and prevent erosion through their root growth.

Specifically we are interested in the geographic distribution of soil resources in the SPFE. For example, does soil texture vary with geographic position? What about CEC or permeability? In this manner we can explore if there is a connection between soil productivity (our environmental variable) and demographic variables like population size, density or socioeconomic status. Such a correlation would directly relate to the themes of environmental externalities and equity. 

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Birds are some of the most vital members of any ecosystem and major contributors to environmental stability. Birds play many roles in their ecosystems, including as predators, pollinators, scavengers, seed dispersers, seed predators, and ecosystem engineers and contribute to provisioning, supporting, regulating and cultural ecosystem services. Additionally, birds can act as indicator species especially in regards to habitat quality, biodiversity and pollution.

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is a yearly citizen science project collaboration between the Cornell lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. Birds are some of the most vital members of any ecosystem and major contributors to environmental stability. The GBBC is a great opportunity for students to learn about the bird community in their local environment and participate in the scientific process in a real, meaningful way to promote environmental equity.