Publication Date
4-9-2007
Abstract
The citizen scientist project Life on the Purple Loosestrife (www.flickr.com/groups/lifeontheloosestrife) was designed to track the use of the invasive wetland plant purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) by other organisms. With the goal of surveying as wide a region as possible, volunteers were recruited using the photography site Flickr and were asked to photograph any plant or animal observed on wild purple loosestrife plants. Forty-three volunteers from three different countries and four different US states have participated in the project so far. Preliminary results revealed the presence of twelve different orders of plants, gastropods, insects and spiders, with forty-three different insect and spider families represented. The insect data was comparable with a peer-reviewed study performed in Canada in 1994, and demonstrates not only that citizen scientist teams are effective at collecting valuable biological data but also that the internet is an effective tool to share such data. While a species survey project of this type will invariably lack depth compared to a typical scientific study performed by experienced biologists, it offers the advantage of greater geographic breadth (with photographers in several U.S. states, the UK, and Japan) and serves as educational outreach to inform the public about invasive species and the importance of wetland habitats. Most importantly, it helps reduce the large gap that exists in the current knowledge about the integration of invasive plants into the natural environment.