Abstract
Project BudBurst: Citizen Science, Climate Change, and Geographical Ecology
Track: Teaching with GIS Across the Curriculum
Authors: Sandra Henderson
Project BudBurst (www.budburst.org) is a national citizen science program designed to engage the public in geographical ecology by making and sharing observations of the timing of life cycle events in plants such as flowering, leafing, and fruiting. Project BudBurst provides the opportunity for students and interested laypersons to participate in authentic scientific research. This project is important not only from an educational perspective, but because it enables scientists to broaden the geographic and temporal scale of their observations. This on-line educational and data-entry program has engaged over 15 thousand participants of all ages and walks of life. Project BudBurst is using data analysis and mapping tools to make access to the data more meaningful. Data and maps from Project BudBurst have been used in several scientific manuscripts. We will report on the results of the last five years of engaging the public in this geographical ecology program.