"Have You Spotted Me? Learning Lessons by Looking for Ladybugs" is an innovative citizen science project that targets children from Native American, rural, farming, and disadvantaged communities. While most citizen science efforts target teens and adults, this project enables youth ages 5-11 to contribute to the development of a major ladybug database. Adult mentors in youth programs introduce children to topics such as ladybugs, invasive species, biodiversity, and conservation. Youth not affiliated with a program may participate independently. Project deliverables include a self-contained education program, an Internet portal and project website, a dedicated corps of volunteers, and the largest, accessible biological database ever developed. The database is made more reliable by utilizing records accompanied by an identifiable data image as a certified data point. Partners include the NY State 4-H, South Dakota State 4-H, Migrant Worker Children's Education Program, Cayuga Nature Center, Seneca Nation Department of Education Summer Programs, Seneca Nation Early Childhood Learner Centers After School Program, and the Onondaga Nation After School Program. Strategic impact will be realized through the creation of a citizen science project that provides hands-on interactions, field experiences, and accessible data that creates unique learning opportunities for youth. It is estimated that nearly 10,000 youth will be impacted by this work.
The Lost Ladybug Project (www.lostladybug.org) is now after four years of development (2008-2012) a successful national citizen science program. We have reached a total of over 400,000 people through the internet, over 25,000 people have participated in activities of the project, and over 8,000 people have submitted ladybug photos. Over 18,000 images of ladybugs have been submitted to the Lost Ladybug database by citizen scientists from every state. Interest and participation in the project continues to grow through the website and as a informal science education program used independently nationwide by nature centers, 4H afterschool and other youth programs, museums, libraries, botanical gardens, zoos, and schools. Participation by communities under-represented in science included Tribal Nations, low-income rural, and migrant farm worker communities in New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and other states. The major intended educational impacts of the ladybug project are: 1. For children, their families and community to feel more comfortable and familiar with doing science. By creating concrete connections between the children's cultural community and science, children will also realize they already do science. 2. For children to directly experience authentic science, with opportunities for meaningful achievement and mastery, through active participation in a national survey of ladybugs. 3. For children to increase their understanding of the importance of preservation through biodiversity and conservation through these activities. Lost Ladybug project participants from all 50 states including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, 6 Canadian provinces, and 3 Mexican estados made a significant scientific contribution. As of 2012, we have positively identified over 18,000 submitted ladybug specimens from 136 different species. Each ladybug can be viewed on our website and the database is freely available to scientists and lay people alike, in several formats, for a variety of analyses, both on and off the website. The database is used by scientists to support taxonomic work , call for more testing for newintroductions of exotic ladybugs and other predators, and inform related ecological and agricultural studies.
