People-Powered Science
How volunteers add to our understanding of the natural world
Maine Audubon staff train Stream Explorers to collect and identify aquatic insects. COURTESY PHOTO
By Andrea Lani
Blue crabs trapped, tagged and tracked by community scientists will help Wells Reserve at Laudholm researchers learn more about the species’ range expansion. COURTESY PHOTO
For the past five years, Jill Osgood of Portland has prowled the city’s streets at daybreak in the spring and fall to search for evidence of migrating birds having collided with windows. Osgood is one of thousands of Mainers who volunteer their time through initiatives known as citizen science or community science* that contribute to the scientific understanding of our environment.
Volunteers participate in these kinds of projects because they’re already spending time outside observing nature, explains Phil Keefe, Maine Audubon’s Community Science Manager. “We’re tapping into a resource that already exists,” he says. “It’s people that are interested in animals, in conservation or in making their community better. Their knowledge is immediately useful for scientific research and for conservation and management.”
Numerous organizations and agencies sponsor community science projects that are open to participation by both visitors to and residents of Maine. The bird strike surveys conducted by Osgood and other volunteers are a component of BirdSafe Maine, a community science collaboration among Maine Audubon, the University of Southern Maine and the Portland Society for Architecture. The project’s goal is to address the problem of birds dying or sustaining injuries from collisions with buildings.
Save Our Summits volunteers carry soil to the top of Sargent Mountain in Acadia National Park. PHOTO: EVIE LINANTUD, FRIENDS OF ACADIA
One of the longest-running community science projects in the state, according to Keefe, is Maine Audubon’s Annual Loon Count. Since 1983, volunteers have headed out on lakes and ponds on the third Saturday of July to count common loons. More than 1,600 people participated last year. The data collected by these volunteers makes it possible for scientists to monitor long-term trends in loon populations. “Community science creates research-grade data,” Keefe says. “When protocols are developed properly and modified as needed, the data collected by community scientists is equivalent to data collected by professional biologists.”
Community scientists also play a role in maintaining clean water. Trained volunteers for Maine Audubon’s Stream Explorers program collect and identify aquatic insects such as dragonfly nymphs and stonefly larvae from stream beds.Data on these macroinvertebrates, which are indicators of water quality, is transmitted to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for use in analyzing the health of streams around the state. Keefe notes that the participation of volunteers through Stream Explorers far expands the agency’s reach, nearly tripling the number of streams that get evaluated annually.
Engagement in community science can be as simple as entering nature observations into an app like eBird or iNaturalist. Researchers from around the world can access and use this information to estimate populations, track migration and inform resource management. “That’s the beauty of community science,” Keefe says. “If you’re a researcher in West Virginia, and you want to get data on where bumblebees are all across the country, you can do that now [using iNaturalist]. That would have been completely unfeasible in the past.”
Soil packed to summit of Sargent Mountain will be used to create plots for replanting native vegetation. PHOTO: SAM MALLON, FRIENDS OF ACADIA
Cheryl Ring, an avid birder from Augusta, has uploaded more than 3,000 bird checklists to eBird, an app that feeds into a database of worldwide bird sightings managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Ring also contributed winter and breeding bird sightings as well as surveys of marsh birds to the Maine Bird Atlas, a community science project conducted by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife from 2018 to 2022. In addition, she travels designated routes to collect data for the North American Breeding Bird Survey and the American Woodcock Singing-Ground Survey, and she organizes the Augusta Bird Club’s annual Christmas Bird Count. Participating in community science allows Ring todo what she loves most—birding—while also contributing to avian conservation. “I feel as though I’m helping the birds survive,” she says. “I like making a contribution, and I have a total blast doing it.”
“It’s people that are interested in animals, in conservation or in making their community better. Their knowledge is immediately useful for scientific research
and for conservation and management.”
Some community science initiatives recruit participants from around the state and beyond to monitor the life cycles of flora and fauna, such as the bloom time of flowers or when butterflies appear. This tracking of seasonal changes, known as phenology, can help scientists understand how biological systems are responding to climate change. Two phenology projects open to volunteers around the Northeast are Signs of the Seasons, a project organized by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Maine Sea Grant, and Backyard Scientists, a collaboration among Acadia National Park, the Schoodic Institute and Friends of Acadia. Participants in both projects enter observations in Nature’s Notebook, an app managed by the USA National Phenology Network.
In addition to collecting data, community scientists can take an active role in restoring ecosystems. In Acadia National Park, volunteers carry soil to the summits of Sargent and Penobscot Mountains on twice-weekly Save Our Summits hikes. The soil is used to establish restoration plots where park staff replant native vegetation in eroded areas. More than 8,000 pounds of soil have been transported in this way, with more than 60 plots replanted. “That would not have been possible without volunteers,” says Lauren Knierim, Climate Community Volunteer Ambassador at Friends of Acadia. In addition to this measurable ecosystem improvement, Knierim notes that another benefit of these kinds of projects is “connecting people to the landscape and fostering that sense of stewardship of the environment.”
Outreach is also a component of BirdSafe Maine. “Everybody loves birds,” Osgood says, noting a growing trend of Portland businesses applying window decals designed to prevent bird strikes. Birds colliding with windows, she says, is “a problem we can easily fix.” (See Bird-friendly by design). As a result of data collected by BirdSafe Maine volunteers, Portland’s City Council unanimously adopted city-wide bird-friendly building and design standards, and the Maine Legislature passed a law requiring the development of guidelines for implementing bird safety measures in public buildings. Data gathered by community scientists can lead to real change.
*Though there is a technical difference between the terms—the research agenda of citizen science projects is set by researchers while that of community science projects is set by community members—many organizations have adopted the term community science for all participatory science projects to foster a sense of inclusivity.
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