Ever since writing about the impact that Thoreau's carefully curated notebooks have made on modern day phenology research, I've been preoccupied with the idea of folks putting their general enthusiasm for spring's first buds to better use. Instead of only cooing over the first redbud blossoms popping up in Brooklyn, could we all be making like Thoreau and documenting the phenomenon? Given the likely scenario that scribbles in private notebooks won't one day line the shelves of world-class libraries like Thoreau's do, I was curious about ways that plant enthusiasts could share their finds publicly.
No surprise, it's easier than ever to do your part as a citizen scientist. Here are four free apps—and one web-based site—that can help turn an otherwise passive walk in the woods into an exercise in scientific documentation. Nature nerds, unite.
Photography by Erin Boyle.
1. iNaturalist
This was my favorite app. A simple interface makes it easy to use and the developers seem to have taken an especially social approach to data sharing. They say: "From hikers to hunters, birders to beach-combers, the world is filled with naturalists, and many of us record what we find. What if all those observations could be shared online? You might discover someone who finds beautiful wildflowers at your favorite birding spot, or learn about the birds you see on the way to work. If enough people recorded their observations, it would be like a living record of life on Earth that scientists and land managers could use to monitor changes in biodiversity, and that anyone could use to learn more about nature..." Sign me up. I used it to record my first sighting of highbush blueberry in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
2. Project Noah
Like most of these apps, you need to sign up to use Project Noah through their website first. The app was launched out of NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program as an experiment to mobilize citizen scientists. Users choose specific "missions" to which they can contribute their observations. The compiled research is then made accessible to participating researchers. My personal favorite mission? The "Flowers of North America," which currently boasts over 24,000 wildflower spottings from close to 9,000 particpants. Users are encouraged to document wildlife and organisms in their natural environment—so, yes to documenting wild garlic, no to documenting your favorite houseplant, lovely though it might be. From the developers: Project Noah is "a tool that nature lovers can use to explore and document local wildlife and a common technology platform that research groups can use to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere."
This app requires a bit more buy-in from the average user. Users select a specific research site to which they're expected to return on a regular basis. The developers encourage users to choose a site that's convenient, representative of typical environmental conditions in your area, and of a manageable size (no larger than 15 acres). After site selection, users can add their local plant or animal observations. For each plant observation, a simple Yes/No chart within the app prompts users to record whether there are breaking leaf buds, young leaves, flowers or flower buds, open flowers, etc. While I'm not sure I have the time to commit to regular observation of a specific site, the simple format of this app appealed to my affinity for checking off boxes. Buds? Check.
Have plans to do some traveling this summer? This might be the app for you. Users can download lists of invasive species from a selection of participating parks and can help root out invasive species that have been idenitified in the region. Traveling to Acadia National Park, for instance? Download a sortable list of invasives and update the app with your own observation of any of these species. The list can be sorted by common and scientific names and each listing comes with a photograph, which users can also update, to help with identification.
This web-based site doesn't have a robust platform for allowing you to update on-the-go, but what it lacks in mobility it makes up for in robustness. Users can sign up to contribute regular or single reports. Users who contribute regular reports commit to recording their observations of a specific species throughout the year. Users hoping for a smaller time commitment can select a plant to observe just once, noting the leafing, flowering, or fruiting stage of the plant on one particular date. The project tracks plants in five different plant groups: wildflowers and herbs, deciduous trees and shrubs, conifers, evergreen trees and shrubs, and grasses. Project Budburst encourages active particpation of users ranging from botanist newbies to experts in the field.
Enthusiastic about what's growing, but not sure what it is you're looking at? See DIY: Identify Leaves and Flowers (There's an App for That). Prefer to focus on your own garden? See 10 Best Garden Design Apps for Your Ipad.
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