Citizen scientists make contributions

Conducting scientific research is often tedious and time-consuming, but someone had to do it.

Now, though, as many scientists have seen grant funding and resources shrink, they’re exploring new ways of approaching their work, increasingly with the help of everyday amateurs and enthusiasts through what’s known as citizen science.

The term was popularized in the 1990s, but the concept isn’t new. The Audubon Christmas Bird Count, for example, in which volunteers nationwide help conduct an avian census, started in 1900.

Yet the ease with which people can learn about opportunities, participate and share data through the internet and social media has vastly expanded the possibilities of citizen science. Smartphones have propelled it even further, as participants can easily upload their data.

“I think it’s really enabled citizen science to blossom and reach the place it is in today,” said Jake Weltzin, an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “They can go out with their phone in their pocket, collect it right then and there for realtime models so we can know exactly what’s going on.”

Laura Trouille, senior director of Citizen Science at Adler Planetarium, said it’s about engaging the public in a meaningful way and “working along with researchers who genuinely need their help.”

“What’s lovely is you don’t need any special qualifications to be a citizen scientist,” she said. “It’s based on the fact that we all have this amazing ability to recognize patterns, and the researchers have data where they just need someone to recognize a pattern in it and let them know.”

Chris Parson, of Park Ridge, was always interested in science and, after more than 20 years of selling women’s apparel, he closed his shop at age 50, went back to school and got a master’s degree in environmental studies. Now in his 70s, he spends his summers with Illinois RiverWatch, which trains volunteers to collect data on streams and rivers.

Parson also trains schoolteachers on projects they can incorporate in the classroom, like counting species of insect larvae, clams, leeches and other creatures that indicate water and habitat quality.

“I would say I’m a citizen scientist with the emphasis on citizen because I haven’t taken a lot of biology classes and I haven’t taken a lot of chemistry classes, but I really think that’s the heart of RiverWatch,” he said. “You collect scientific data in a rigorous way that will be useful to scientists by using people who are not (professionals).”

Parson’s work is seasonal and each year, volunteers range from young children to seniors.