RESEARCH BACKGROUND
There are a number of drivers for pollinator decline, including habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation, spreading urbanization (including light pollution), overuse of pesticides and herbicides, regional declines in air and water quality, and, of course, the changing climate. But our knowledge about the current decline in pollinators is limited to a few studies, in a few places, in a few different habitats. It is also limited to only a subset of the species that are primarily responsible for pollinating important agricultural resources.
To be able to act with greater certainty to mitigate the specific impacts in a region, managers and scientists need access to more information about which species are being most heavily impacted, which threats can be best addressed, and which solutions are most effective. To date, much of the existing data has been gathered by citizen scientists working together with researchers. Pollinator monitoring is an area where citizen science can be a really useful approach - as evidenced by the many Earthwatch projects that include insects and pollinators as part of their field research. We are now looking to further catalyze this citizen science effort to generate data useful to pollinator conservation efforts globally - by having people collect pollinator data in their backyards, where they work, in nearby parks or as they travel.
Comentários
Hi Stan - I found this project and would like to understand the data gathering goal. I thought that it was about insect-plant interactions yet there are many observations of insects not engaged in pollination or gathering nectar. I contribute to similar project focused on Lepidoptera https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/butterfly-moth-nectar-plants, and that project requires that the "Nectar plant" field be completed so that there is a direct link to a plant. There is also this similar sounding project https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pollinator-associations.
Hi David,
Thanks for your note, and I hope you and yours are staying healthy.
The ultimate goal of this project is to better document those plant-pollinator associations - particularly from a phenological perspective. We do provide more details on this aspect of the project here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g3uX0vv4bRp1sP6ERSE7e2qigYRpe-FOkqALrBSMgUQ/edit (the link can be found on the "Read more" link- https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/global-pollinator-watch?tab=about ).
At the same time, we wanted to provide a way to capture observations of potential pollinators from a purely taxonomic perspective that could allow for species diversity to be assessed relative to land-use patterns - specifically looking at urban-to-wildland or rural gradients at a global scale.
I received some counsel from iNat project creators that suggested building this out as a collection project would be the best way to accomplish both goals, though I have also noticed that not nearly enough contributors (myself included!) are taking the time to add in the species associations. I am thinking I should perhaps rewrite the project overview that better explains these goals, and to take advantage of this northern hemisphere dormancy period to get caught up on those associations.
I also created and oversee Project PorchLight (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/project-porchlight ) that I built as a traditional project, where each member has to tag their observations to the project. I had included some other metrics around whether the observer was using an existing light source on a building (incidental observations) or set up a moth sheet and light (for more intentional observations), and even for a while made those fields mandatory. During that period, I did not get a single observation submitted, so I made those field optional.
In those other projects that you contribute to, how are these issues addressed? I'd love to get more of the more valuable data with these ancillary fields, but I am also hoping to engage larger audiences with an opportunity to ease in to this arena. Any ideas, feedback or counsel you have would be greatly appreciated! And feel free to reach out to me via email- my address is srullman@earthwatch.org.
Thanks again for reaching out!
Stan
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