Pollinator Attraction Citizen Science Program

Pollinator Attraction Citizen Science Program

Katie Villano SpellmanChrista P.H. MulderDepartment of Biology and WildlifeUniversity of Alaska FairbanksI would like to introduce the Pollinator Attraction Citizen Science program, an effort to combine education and outreach with important research on the impacts of invasive plants to Alaskan resources.

This program is a part of the Melibee project.1The Melibee ProjectOverarching research goal:Investigate the impact of invasive white sweetclover on the pollination of blueberry and cranberry

The Melibee Project is looking at the impacts of white sweetclover (Melilotus albus) on the pollination and subsequent fruit set of Vaccinium uliginosum (bog blueberry) and Vaccinium vitis-idaea (lowbush cranberry or lingonberry). We are approaching this question from several angles. First, we conducted surveys and sampled pollination levels in areas along the Dalton highway where all our focal species co-occur. Second, we conducted controlled experiments where we outplanted sweetclover in blueberry and cranberry patches within BNZ and CPCRW and looked at the effects on pollination and fruit set.2Phenology: a geographic mosaic of interactions?V. vitis-idaea floweringMelilotus floweringV. vitis-idaea floweringMelilotus floweringImpacts+, 0 or -+Our experiments and surveys were all in interior Alaska, where sweetclover overlaps in flowering time. In other parts of Alaska, however, this may not be the case, due to differences in climate or the genetics of plant populations. There may exist a geographic mosaic of interactions due to differences in flowering phenology of the invasive plant and the berries. For example, in some places cranberry and melilotus may have substantial overlap in flowering time, which could, as we found in our first season of experiments, reduce visits to berry plants or have a neutral effect. With new Melilotus in the area still blooming after native flowers have stopped flowering, there may be a positive impact on the pollinator populations by increasing floral resources and increasing the carrying capacity of the system for pollinator populations. In other parts of the state, there may be little overlap in flowering time, like we saw on the Dalton Highway this summer. In this case, you may only see an increase in resources for the pollinators, with no negative impacts to berry plants. This could benefit the berries in the long run by again, increasing carrying capacity of the system for pollinators.

We know from our results in our second year that interannual variation in temperature and precipitation can change the way berries, melilotus and pollinators are interacting at any given location.3Risk Models for AlaskaDetermine the extent of berry plant and sweetclover flowering times overlap in different parts of AlaskaPredict vulnerability of berry harvest to impact by invasive plants in changing climate

So the third component of our research is to determine which parts of the state have the greatest overlap in flowering time, and build biogeospatial models to predict which areas might be most vulnerable to changes in berry harvest due to sweetclover invasions in a changing climate. 4The Melibee ProjectOur approach:Historical data from herbarium recordsCurrent data from citizen monitoring

Cranberry specimen from the University of Alaska Museum of the North herbariumLabel on a herbarium sample dating back to 1881.

Monitoring lowbush cranberry in Fairbanks.To do build these models, we are getting historical data on sweetclover and berry phenology from herbarium records and matching these records to historical climate station data. To get current data, we have launched a statewide citizen monitoring program.5Historical DataAlaska data 1915-2005

Christa Mulder has visited about a dozen herbaria across North America and scored the phenology of hundreds of specimens by counting the numbers of buds, open flowers, fruits, etc. She has collected data on plants from all over the continent where the ranges of Melilotus and our focal berry species overlap. Here I have extracted the data just from Alaskan plants. On the y axis is the phenophase index, with one being bud, two being open flowers, 3 being petal drops, 4 being unripe fruits, and 5 being ripe fruits.On the x axis is the julian date, where Jan 1 =1 and Dec 31=365. The red dots are lowbush cranberry samples, and the green triangles are sweetclover samples.

These data are from 1915-2005. You can see that, in that time period, sweetclover and cranberry have shown substantial pheological overlap. From our trendlines, we can see that melilotus tends to start budding and flowering a bit later, but develops at a much faster rate6Current DataCitizens monitor reproductive phenology of focal species across Alaska

Citizen Science!Mary Gregory, Kuskokwim River Watershed Council Elder

Teachers from Valdez

Melilotus albusVaccinium vitis-idaeaVaccinium uliginosum

We wanted not only to build and validate our risk models from herbarium data, but from current data as well. We chose a citizen science approach. This approach allows us to engage a wide array of people in our research, and enhance the understanding of the impact invasive plants could have on resources important to Alaskans. Further, Alaskans become involved in the process of science, using science to help understand problems that directly affect their lives. And finally, citizen science is a really cost-effective way to get lots of data from all over the state in a short period of time. We had citizens set up research sites with one or more of our focal species in it and monitor the same plants weekly, or as often as they could. 7Pollinator Attraction Citizen ScienceProgram Attributes:Aligned with National Phenology Network protocols

While we needed the protocols to match the experimental research we had already conducted, and the herbarium data, we also wanted our data set to be able to benefit the greater understanding of phenology at a larger scale. To do this, we aligned our protocols with the National Phenology Network protocols, so we can give them our data once we have finished our project.8Pollinator Attraction Citizen ScienceProgram Attributes:RecruitingScience expos and outdoor education fairsTeacher partnersConservation and Education ListservesFacebookYouTubeWebsiteScience Expo, March 2012Potters Marsh Discovery Days, June 2012

We put forth a serious recruiting effort to get volunteers, which included us doing tables at several outdoor education and science education fairs. We capitalized on all the teacher partners we have been able to gain in our project through the summer field course we have been offering over the past several years. We also had effective recruiting through listserves and facebook. We even created a QR code so people who heard about our projects from our flyers could get right to our website with their smart phones!9Pollinator Attraction Citizen ScienceProgram Attributes:Training (Distance delivery webinar and in-person)

Fairbanks Training, July 2012Anchorage Training, June 2012One volunteers signed up to monitor, we provided several training opportunities tofamiliarize the volunteers with the protocols, give them practice, and improve the data quality. We did two in-person trainings in Anchorage and Fairbanks, and did a distance delivery training webinar for more remote participants.10Pollinator Attraction Citizen ScienceProgram Attributes:Monitoring supplies packageProtocolsSite Description FormData sheets5 metal plant tagsFlagging tape Research Area signFocal Plant ID GuidePhenophase Photo Guide

Once volunteers were trained, each volunteer received a package with all the materials they needed to successfully complete the data collection. 11Pollinator Attraction Citizen ScienceProgram Attributes:Online access to protocols, research reports, training webinar and data reporting

https://sites.google.com/a/alaska.edu/melibee-project/All the project components were conveniently located online at our project website so volunteers could access them, or the training webinar at any point during the summer. We also used our website to keep volunteers updated on the results we are getting from the project.12Pollinator Attraction Citizen ScienceProgram Attributes:Communicating results through newsletterPlay with data and interactive map on website

Like in any good citizen science program, we put out a newsletter so that all our volunteers could see their data and how it fits with the other results from our project. We want our volunteers to understand that their data mattered in helping improve the understanding of the impact of invasive plants in Alaska.13

Summer 2012 outcomes:89 Volunteers (youth and adults)354 observations50 monitoring sites

Monitoring locations 2012 (white text)and new locations committed for 2013 (yellow text)

In our first summer of the program, we had 89 volunteers participate. They submitted a total of 354 observations from 50 monitoring sites at the locations shown on this map. We really need more monitoring in western Alaska, the Aleutians and northern Alaska next summer, so if you know of anybody, or are doing research there yourself, let Katie know!152 rural schools, 10 educators,1 youth camp, 5 families, 5 interested individuals,6 conservation agencies, 3 nature centers,11 biologists,1 tourist program

Most observations (72!), Seth Beaudreault, ToolikProgram Outcomes 2012

Least plants observed (only one sweetclover is in the whole village!), Innoko River School, Shageluk

Youngest Scientist, Fiora Graziano, age 5Anchorage We had many different types of volunteers help us in 2012. They include:2 rural schools, 10 educators,1 youth camp, 5 families, 5 interested individuals6 conservation agencies 3 nature centers11 biologists1 tourist program (a citizen science tour for cruise ship passengers in Haines, AK)

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More to doRecruit more volunteersGather more dataCollect climate station data for all herbarium and citizen science locationCreate models under different scenariosCreate interaction maps