Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Busch, Akiko

Title The incidental steward : reflections on citizen science / Akiko Busch ; illustrations by Debby Cotter Kaspari
Published New Haven : Yale University Press, [2013]

Copies

Description 1 online resource
Contents Introduction -- Bats in the locust tree -- Weeds on the river -- Pools in the spring -- Ribbons underwater -- Coyotes across the clear-cut -- Herring into the brook -- Loosestrife in the marsh -- Eels in the stream -- Vines through the trees -- Insects in the ash trees -- Eagles on the shore -- Epilogue
Summary A search for a radio-tagged Indiana bat roosting in the woods behind her house in New York's Hudson Valley led Akiko Busch to assorted other encounters with the natural world--local ecological monitoring projects, community-organized cleanup efforts, and data-driven citizen science research. Whether it is pulling up water chestnuts in the Hudson River, measuring beds of submerged aquatic vegetation, or searching out vernal pools, all are efforts that illuminate the role of ordinary citizens as stewards of place. In this elegantly written book, Busch highlights factors that distinguish twenty-first-century citizen scientists from traditional amateur naturalists: a greater sense of urgency, helpful new technologies, and the expanded possibilities of crowdsourcing. The observations here look both to precisely recorded data sheets and to the impressionistic marginalia, scribbled asides, and side roads that often attend such unpredictable outings. While not a primer on the prescribed protocols of citizen science, the book combines vivid natural history, a deep sense of place, and reflection about our changing world. Musing on the expanding potential of citizen science, the author celebrates today's renewed volunteerism and the opportunities it offers for regaining a deep sense of connection to place
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Environmental monitoring -- Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.)
Wildlife conservation -- Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.)
SCIENCE.
Research & Methodology.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Environmental Policy.
SCIENCE -- Environmental Science.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Civics & Citizenship.
Environmental monitoring
Wildlife conservation
Earth & Environmental Sciences.
Ecology.
United States -- Hudson River Valley
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2012040301
ISBN 0300195087
9780300195088