🐛 Urban Insects - Help us help them in 2020 (References)

[EwA]

Urban Insects - Help Us Help Them in 2020

Thanks to all of you who could join us yesterday. We loved having you with us!

Here's what Amy and I covered yesterday (w / access to slides and video recording).

Synopsis

It's in the news: our insects are the silent victims of both the climate and the ecological crises. Also revealed this past year is how their decline badly affects Earth's ecosystems and the species that depend upon them (including humans). Come see what volunteer citizen scientists saw, discovered, and recorded in our cities this past year. Because insects are understudied, this also means that there is a ton that we can do to help. The good news is that you can really make a difference (yes, you!). Our growing community of citizen scientists and volunteers demonstrate this continuously and we are continuing the program this year. Join us and learn how you can help.

📊 Our Slides » https://tinyurl.com/ewa-amy-saving-arthropods

📹 The Recording of this Talk (now on EwA Youtube channel) » https://youtu.be/gmAPdj7hhAI

How to Participate in our Insect Surveys

We need You! - Help us help them!

We have different options for you to participate and make a difference for our friendly urban insects! Our talk covered the following survey efforts, you just have to pick and choose!

☆ Somerville Photographic Flower Visitor Survey 
Contact: Amy (Lesley)
If you have a minimum of 1 hour/month during the growing season (May - October) for photographing pollinators and flowers along assigned transects in Somerville, 📝 please fill our Interest/Participation Form » https://forms.gle/y1o615EnuMhZBfgA7   

☆ Somerville Pollinator Pots & Patches
Contact: Amy (Lesley)
If you want to host a pollinator pot or patch of native plants (Amy provides them), 📝 please fill the Interest/Participation Form » https://forms.gle/y1o615EnuMhZBfgA7   

☆ Insect Occurrence and Abundance Surveys (Several locations)
Contact: Claire (Earthwise Aware)
📧 citizenscience<at>earthwiseaware.org
If you are interested in conducting insect occurrence and abundance surveys at any of EwA's site locations: Join EwA (Earthwise Aware) a few times a month to survey insects. EwA particularly focuses on entomofauna (insect life), so that they can compare species occurrences and population trends between sites in the region. Contact us to know more. ⓘ EwA's citizen science program here » https://tinyurl.com/ewa-citizen-science.

🗺️ EwA Survey Locations: 

□ Middlesex Fells (Winchester, Medford, Stoneham, Melrose areas) » EwA at the Fells Program

□ Fresh Pond (Cambridge) » EwA at Fresh Pond Program

□ Mass Audubon Habitat (Belmont) » EwA at Habitat Program

□ Growing Center (Somerville) » Helping our Urban Insects Project

Who We Are

👤 Claire O'Neill is the founder of Earthwise Aware (EwA), a nature conservation nonprofit organization based in Somerville. She is a field naturalist, wildlife conservationist, statistician, and data expert. Her and EwA's mission is to bring biodiversity science, ecological ethics, and environmental leadership to the heart of communities and into the daily life of people. 

She has developed a citizen science model that enables science by the people, benefiting both people and nature. Where she lives in Massachusetts, her communities get a chance to experience what this means first-hand with EwA's Naturalist program. EwA citizen science projects promote a form of scientific contribution and experiential learning that is system-based, with an emphasis on the interaction between species, habitats, and their function in several critical urban locations. [More...]

👤 Amy Mertl is an Assistant professor at Lesley University. Amy has long been fascinated by the underlying patterns structuring the evolution and ecology of diverse insect groups. At Lesley, she teaches Biology with Lab, Animal Behavior, and Ecology and Natural History. 

Her current research involves investigating the diversity, ecology, and structure of ant and termite communities in New England forests. This project currently engages Lesley students and community members in citizen science projects. Amy also has a background in using film and video as educational tools. She has co-produced several short documentaries through Project Documentary at CCTV, including “Ants” an award-winning short film on her favorite tiny subjects.  [More...]

✉ Question? Contact Claire at citizenscience@earthwiseaware.org
ⓘ About EwA Citizen Science Program » https://tinyurl.com/ewa-citizen-science
$ Free with a value: This event is free, still we need your support. 
🧡 Become an EwA #ScienceForAll Ambassador » Donate at www.earthwiseaware.org/donate