*Please address questions and comments to Amanda Treher ([email protected])*
We invite you to be a contributor to our citizen science collaborative project! We aim to harness the power of online citizen science communities to better understand the geographic range of select species. Our first project starts with two buttercups. They are showy, will reach a broad audience, geographically speaking, and can usually be identified from photos. Ranunculus ficaria (syn. Ficaria verna) or Lesser Celandine, an invasive in North America, and Caltha palustris, also known as Marsh Marigold, have broad geographic ranges spanning multiple continents with considerable overlap, and to beginners, could be difficult to distinguish. Our primary goal is to compare the observations collected in this project with the known distribution of each species: early detection of invasive species is important for their management. In addition, we hope to better understand the abilities of crowd sourcing, while gathering some interesting information for analysis. Contributing is as easy as a walk around the neighborhood! Even if you dont know your buttercups, the online community of naturalists will help with identification! You only need a camera or a smart phone to document what you find, the location where you found it, and an account with one of two citizen science data collection platforms. Currently, we are active on iNaturalist (www.inaturalist.org) and Project Noah (www.projectnoah). However, Project Noah limits contributions to a 300 mile radius of Arlington, VA. Both platforms have a data collection tool available for smart phones. On either site, you can find our profile, NatureServe, and our project/mission, Distribution of Look-Alike Buttercups. Check out our progress, thus far: http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/distribution-of-look-alike-buttercups http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/19316030 You are encouraged to forward this announcement to others! Thank you! Alex Sessums, Botany Intern AnNa Kim, Citizen Science Intern Amanda Treher, Research Botanist NatureServe A Network Connecting Science with Conservation 4600 N. Fairfax Dr., 7th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203 http://www.natureserve.org
