(Photo: Xerces Society / Rachel Dunham)

Community science (sometimes referred to as "participatory science" or "citizen science") is a form of research that provides everyone—regardless of their background—an opportunity to contribute meaningful data to further our scientific understanding of key issues. By engaging community members, researchers can collect a larger amount of data, and often span more geographic regions, in a shorter amount of time. In turn, this data informs larger conservation efforts. It's also a great opportunity for participants to learn more about species that interest them. It's a win-win situation for all of us—including invertebrates!

Listed here are community science projects that we collaborate on, as well as other community science efforts that we recommend.