Puffarazzi
Scottish Puffins, lovingly called the “clowns of the sea” are a popular bird to snap for tourists and locals alike who happen to spot the birds when they migrate back to Scotland’s shores for the summer months. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)— which was founded by society ladies in 1889 to raise awareness about the decimation of rare and precious bird species being killed to become fashionable hat plumage— asks citizen scientists to join the Puffin Project by becoming a part of the “Puffarazzi”. Citizen scientists who have taken a picture at any of the approximately 40 puffin colonies in Scotland are asked to submit their pictures of puffins with fish in their bills taken in past years so that researchers can understand which colonies are experiencing food stress. The puffin population in Scotland is dropping quickly, and part of the blame goes to climate change’s negative impact on local small fish species that Puffins depend on to feed their young. Submitted pictures allow a clearer picture of trends in food supplies in puffin colonies. Because of COVID, the project is encouraging past photos to be submitted, as opposed to current photos to comply with social distancing guidelines in the UK, but the aim is still the same. Connie Tremlett, RSPB Conservation Scientist and manager, said that in 2020— despite COVID— they have received hundreds of submissions, showing the momentum of the project and the Puffin’s popularity. A possible issue with the project is that the public is still encouraged to actively engage with puffins in their conserved habitat. A deluge of tourists and photographs can certainly be a disruption to the puffins and damage their natural habitat. The project needs to ensure that in the process of engaging the public to help monitor, they do not end up harming the puffins.
Piper, Laura. “Scientists need your Puffin photos to help save the species.” STV News, April 12, 2020. https://news.stv.tv/science/scientists-need-your-puffin-pictures-to-help-save-the-species?top
RSPB. “Our History.” Accessed June 17, 2020. https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/our-history/.
Categories
Biodiversity, Citizen Science, Ecological Monitoring, Visual Technologies
More Ideas
Air Pollution Robot
The dangers of air pollution to human health are well documented, though the traditional methodology of collecting and reporting on sample lags behind the need to keep abreast and regulate air pollution in a meaningful amount of time. The use of drones and robots have been identified by researchers as resources that can be tweaked […]
Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Lifestyle, Monitoring
Telematic Rivers
Erica Kermani’s artwork seeks to answer a central question: if rivers were seeing an equal, living entity, would humans take issues like climate change threatening them more seriously? In his year-long art exhibition in 2017, Kermani, in collaboration with Diana Salcedo & Jeana Chesnik, created a new forum of interaction between humans and rivers to […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies
Co-occupied Boundaries
Art is easily found in nature but rarely is what considered art today inherently natural. The concept of co-occupied mediums that serve to be both functional for nature and aesthetically pleasing to people is being actively explored by Asya Ilgun and Phil Ayres, from the CITAstudio at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies