To kick off the new school year, we are introducing an interview segment for this month! Many of you might be wondering how to apply the things you learn in class or from these articles. This month, we will be learning about citizen science and what it means to be a citizen scientist. To help us understand more about this topic, we have invited citizen scientist Scott Horlock, a retired biology teacher, to help us learn about citizen science.
 

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Can you give us a brief backstory of how you came into conservation?

"My conservation journey actually started when I was about 12 years old.  My father and a group of high school students started a prairie restoration at a local forest preserve. You could say that we were citizen scientists long before that term was used. I tagged along to help out. We would walk along railroad tracks looking for native prairie plants to harvest the seeds from. In the late fall we would clean the seeds and stratify them. By spring, the seeds were ready for planting. Once the plants were a year old, we planted them into the restoration plots. 

Growing up, I was always around creeks, lakes, sloughs, swamps, and forests and learning to identify the plants and animals that called those places home. My formal introduction to freshwater ecosystems didn't occur until I was a teacher's assistant for a freshwater ecology class in college."
 

How would you define citizen science?

"Citizen science is a way of describing data collection activities performed by people, in groups or individually, who may or may not be formally trained scientists. These activities share data with formal scientists. They may be focused on a small local area, such as the rusty crayfish round-up in my community, or they could be large in nature and include the entire United States, like Cornell University's Feederwatch program or the Audubon Societies’ Winter Bird Count.  No matter the size of the activity, citizen science is a great way for scientists to collect much larger amounts of data than they would normally be able to collect on their own."

What types of citizen science tools have you used or are currently using?

"I use a few different phone apps that are very helpful for citizen scientists.  Merlin Bird ID is fantastic for identifying bird species by sight or sound.  It allows the user to keep a "life list," and it shares the data with professional scientists. PlantNet uses photos of plants taken or uploaded by the user and provides a large database of information.  One of my favorites is iNaturalist.  Photos taken using the app are tagged with GPS coordinates and can be shared with other groups.  For example, my students would photograph plants or animals within DeKalb County, and that information was shared with the DeKalb County Forest Preserve District."

Are these citizen science tools and apps viable conservation technologies?

"Absolutely!  These tools use AI or crowdsourcing to allow individuals with limited training to contribute to data collection.  The more these tools are used, the more accurate they become."

What impact do you believe you make as an individual citizen scientist?

"Much of the time it doesn't feel like we are contributing very much as individuals.  Many times, that is because we don't get to see the "big picture".  When individual data is combined with the data of hundreds or thousands of other individuals, scientists are able to identify meaningful trends in our ecosystems.  Occasionally, citizen scientists are directly involved in an "a-ha" moment.  A number of years ago, I was working with Dr. Carl VonEnde teaching high school students how to perform stream surveys.  Part of our study included a freshwater mussel survey.  The students were the first to discover the presence of an invasive species called Corbicula sp. in the East Branch of the South Branch of the Kishwaukee River."
 

Is there anything else you'd like to say to get our readers excited about becoming citizen scientists?

"I grew up being a citizen scientist long before we used that term.  Along the way I have had the opportunity to learn from some amazing scientists, meet some incredible people, and explore some unique ecosystems.  Being a citizen scientist will connect you to a network of people with similar aspirations, give you lifelong memories, and, maybe most importantly, connect you with your living world in a meaningful way."
 

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Thank you for all your information on citizen science, Scott! We hope that with this interview, our audience will see just how attainable being a citizen scientist can be. From birdwatching to whalewatching, there are real-life scientific projects worldwide that need participants like you!

“Rome wasn’t built in a day”—and neither is a coral reef. Coral reef growth is incredibly slow; the fastest growing corals rarely grow more than ten centimeters (or four inches) a year. Fully formed coral reefs can take 10,000+ years to develop! 

Unfortunately, the second half of that saying—“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it burned in one”—is also true for coral reefs. Coral bleaching causes rapid and often irreversible damage to coral reefs, quickly destroying what was built up over decades. Coral bleaching typically occurs when coral reefs experience extreme environmental stresses (i.e. increased ocean temperatures, sudden influxes of pollutants and nutrients).

However, scientists are working diligently to develop new, creative ways to help restore coral reefs. One approach is reef regeneration. This technique mirrors plant nurseries, except these “nurseries” are underwater and are growing coral instead of plants! Coral “farmers” grow small pieces of coral on underwater structures. Once these farmed pieces are big enough, or established enough, they are then transplanted onto existing reefs, promoting new growth and revitalizing them. Some researchers have taken this propagation technique a step further by putting lab-grown corals through simulations of stressful conditions or genetically modifying lab-grown corals to develop heightened resistance to bleaching or other threats like disease! As scientists dive further into researching the genetic composition, physiological adaptations, and establishment cycles of coral, new information and advancing technology paint a brighter, hopeful future for our coral reefs and oceans ecosystems.
 

The ocean and technology have long been intertwined. Humans have continuously experimented with new methods of shipbuilding and navigational instruments, such as astrolabes and compasses, to travel faster, farther, and safer on each daring voyage over the open sea. Scientific study of the ocean and marine life then spawned all manner of devices that have allowed us to chart the sea floor and measure depth, track species and migration patterns, and altogether see the sea as we never would have been able to before. But few technologies give us as much information as the one farthest from the surface of the water. 

Satellites offer a complete picture of our oceans, something that no other technology is capable of! They have been an invaluable tool in the face of climate change’s many consequences on our oceans. On a worldwide scale, researchers can map submarine geological features and monitor water temperature, surface color, weather, and perhaps most crucially, sea level changes. You may wonder how a satellite orbiting the Earth can “see” what the ocean floor looks like. Well, just like on land, the ocean dips and rises, mirroring the layouts of reefs, canyons, and submarine volcanoes. We can’t see these dips and rises, but a radar altimeter, which uses pulses to measure height, can. The ocean’s depth and submarine topography both fall under the term bathymetry. Temperature monitoring informs oceanographers and marine biologists on several oceanic subjects, including upwelling, which was covered in our May Newsletter. It also serves as a predictive tool regarding coastal weather, fish behavior, and coral bleaching, all of which are influenced by shifts in water temperature. Knowing the color of the sea’s surface also allows scientists to be ahead of the curve on the spread of harmful algal blooms, in addition to telling us about flooding and river plumes. River plumes are patches of freshwater that form in the ocean at the mouth of a river. As mentioned, having eyes in the sky provides insight into rising sea levels, which are one of the most pressing consequences of climate change in terms of their impact on coastal life, whether human or marine. Radar altimeters are used to track sea level changes as well. 

The use of satellite technology in oceanography is only increasing. In 2022, NASA and CNES, France’s space agency, launched the Surface Water and Ocean Topography Satellite (SWOT). This station collects imagery and data on all aquatic areas with unprecedented detail and specificity, offering both broad and up-close views of our oceans, rivers, and lakes. Perhaps the most vital contribution SWOT has made so far is its ability to analyze sources of drinking water.