Do you want to be a Citizen Scientist?

Are you curious and persistent? Then you would make a great Citizen Scientist. Extension will provide training for you to become a Citizen Scientist on June 18 from 9 am to 12 pm at the Extension office in Largo (12520 Ulmerton Road). You can sign up online using the on-line registration feature at Extension. Any skill and age level can participate in a national program to monitor changes to the life cycles of plants and animals. Instructions are found at Nature’s Notebook. Work is done independently on any plant or animal species chosen – you can select your own site and what you want to observe.

Phenology is the study of recurring life-cycle events such as the flowering of plants and animal migration. Monitoring the changes to life cycle events is very important for addressing applied environmental issues. The data collected are a simple measure that anyone can do to add to the overall understanding of changes to life cycles of local plants and animals. A national network was set up in 2007 to make more data available for a larger variety of plants and animals to assist scientists. The USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) monitors the influence of climate on the phenology of plants, animals, and landscapes. They do this by encouraging people to observe phenological events like leaf out, flowering, migrations, and egg laying, and by providing a place for people to enter, store, and share their observations. Timing of life cycle events for plants and animals helps predict things like the timing of allergy season and other important processes that impact us.

Join us for this exciting new program in Pinellas County and be a part of a national effort to provide scientists with information.

Resources:
http://www.usanpn.org/