December 2019 • Nebraskaland 39
essica Gieseke is a bumble bee-catching machine.
She picks her way through a clump of goldenrod
buzzing with fl ies and soldier beetles and spots her
target. In one swift, graceful movement, Gieseke slides
a vial along a stem, tips a bumble bee inside and caps the
vial.
The vial joins 25 others in her cooler packed with ice
cubes. The ice chills the bees, rendering them sleepy and
nearly immobile – a perfect photography subject. One by one,
Gieseke taps the bees onto a sheet of white paper, positions
them carefully, and shoots a photo with her cell phone. Later,
she will submit her photos, species identifi cations and data
about the survey area online.
Gieseke is not a scientist, though insects are a passion
of hers. She volunteers for the Nebraska Bumble Bee Atlas,
a catch-and-release project created by the Xerces Society
that aims to track and conserve Nebraska's native bumble
bees. In just two months, participants submitted more than
390 observations from bumble bee surveys they conducted,
which will help researchers better understand the bees'
distribution, status and habitat needs.
This project is part of a growing movement called "citizen
science," or, sometimes, "community science." In citizen
science, members of the public participate in scientifi c
research, partnering with scientists to answer real-world
questions.
There is almost no limit to what citizen science can look
like. Citizen scientists in Nebraska have tagged monarchs,
Citizen Science
Making Their Own Discoveries
Story and Photos by Renae Blum
J
A volunteer captured this dragonfl y in a vial before recording the observation on the iNaturalist app and releasing it.
iNaturalist helps users identify the plants and animals around them, while contributing to scientifi c knowledge.
